Gujarat Ambuja, Grasim Industries also lose coal blocks
20 Sep 2012
The Inter Ministerial Group on Thursday decided to de-allocate two more mining blocks, including those allocated to Gujarat Ambuja and Grasim Industries, raising the number of coal blocks recommended for deallocation so far to 13.
The IMG, which is reviewing the allocation of 58 coal blocks to companies for captive consumption, today recommended deallocation of the Dahegaon Makardhokra IV coal block allocated in June 2006 to IST Steel & Power Ltd and Gujarat Ambuja Cement Ltd.
It also recommended deallocation of the Bhaskarpara coal block in Chhattisgarh allocated in November 2008 to Electrotherm (India) Ltd and Grasim Industries Ltd.
One of the companies whose block was recommended for de-allocation has the son of former corporate affairs minister Prem Chand Gupta as one of its directors, reports said.
Gaurav Gupta is a director in IST Steel and Power, which owns the majority 53 per cent stake in the Dahegaon Markardhokra coal block.
Dahegaon-Makardhokra IV block was given to IST Steel and Power, along with cement firms Gujarat Ambuja and Lafarge India, in June 2009. The block has a total of 48.84 million tonnes of extractable reserves.