Bhubaneswar: Union Coal Secretary Sumanta Chaudhuri Friday said that the central government is taking all measures to improve Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) in coal sector.
Addressing at a stakeholder consultation meet on issues related to coal sector organised in city by Ministry of Coal in collaboration with FICCI, Chaudhuri said, “There are problems in EoDB and we are trying to address every (coal related) issue. There used to be a provision prior to the approval of mining lease, but under current allocation regime, all coal blocks are auctioned and allotted by the Central government. So, the details need to be sanctioned for mining lease, which are contained in the allotment accord and subsequent documents.”
Chaudhuri further said that the unnecessary permission from the government for grant of mining lease is redundant.
“Coal ministry has written letters to all chief secretaries that now they don’t need to seek prior approval from the government. They can grant the mining lease,” Chaudhuri said.
He also urged the state government not to take much time for granting the lease. “We need to develop a system which doesn’t adversely affect revenue of the state but able to grant mining lease much faster,” he suggested.
The ministry is also working on the policy interventions to develop a Single Window Scheme for faster approvals of clearances.
Chaudhuri requested the coal producers to operationalise their mines within two years from the date of allocation. He stressed that the coal producers should not take six years to operationalise a coal block.
He said that the Coal Ministry has already taken policy decisions to ensure early operationalisation of mines, which includes allowing sale of 25% coal in open market in case of allocation for specified end use plant, relaxation in efficiency parameters and provision of grace periods.