Bid for only one coal mine received

New Delhi: Only one bid has been received out of four coal mines that were put up for second attempt of auction under the 11th round of Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act (CMSP Act), Parliament was informed on Wednesday.

The technical bid for the Kuraloi (A) North mine in Odisha was received from Vedanta Ltd and an Empowered Committee of Secretaries (ECoS) will take a final call on it, Coal and Mines Minister Pralhad Joshi told Lok Sabha in a written reply.

"Out of four coal mines put up for second attempt of auction under 11th Tranche of CMSP Act & 1st Tranche of MMDR (Mines and Minerals Development and Regulation) Act, only one mine namely Kuraloi (A) North mine in Odisha has received one technical bid from M/s Vedanta Limited," Joshi said.

The Minister said as per the provisions, in case there is only one technically qualified bidder, such bidder shall be the qualified bidder. "....the Initial Offer submitted by the Technically Qualified Bidder shall be considered as the Final Offer submitted by the Qualified Bidder and the matter will be referred to Empowered Committee of Secretaries (ECoS) for appropriate decision with respect to allocation of the Coal Mine," he said.

In the event, the ECoS decides that the coal mine shall be allocated to the qualified bidder, it shall be declared as the preferred bidder. "However, in the event the ECoS decides that the Coal Mine shall not be allocated to the Qualified Bidder, the tender process for the Coal Mine shall stand annulled. Accordingly, the matter was referred to ECoS and a meeting of ECoS was held on March 4, 2021, Joshi said.