Govt finalising plan to auction coal blocks: Jaiswal

The government is preparing a roadmap to invite bidding for some 50 coal blocks to be sold to private parties and the guidelines for the auction process are likely in two to four months, coal minister Sriprakash Jaiswal said today.

"We will start the process of coal block auction through competitive bidding soon after finalising the guidelines for auction. The guidelines are almost ready,'' said Jaiswal, according to a PTI report.

The remarks came amid a furore in Parliament over a leaked draft audit report by the Comptroller & Auditor General of India estimating that the government lost Rs10.67 lakh crore by allotting 55 coal blocks without auction between 2004 and to 2009.

The CAG subsequently said the leaked report was "exceedingly misleading", as it was no more than a very preliminary draft. This has given a breather to the government already beleaguered by several scams over the past couple of years.

Jaiswal said views were obtained from different ministries on the draft guidelines and once the process starts it will bring transparency in the allotment. He said the government has begun the process of hiring a consultant to come out with a methodology for fixing the minimum price for blocks on offer.

Coal India Ltd subsidiary CMPDI has been assigned the task of hiring the consultant.

Earlier, Jaiswal had said that the government had identified blocks to put on auction in the first round, without disclosing the numbers. However, PTI quoting its sources put the number of blocks likely to be on offer at 50.