Kolkata | Jan 11, 2015: Nearly 100 companies participated at a pre-bid meeting on January 10, for the proposed auction of 24 operating captive mines. The participants included the existing allottees of such assets.

The meeting was chaired by Vivek Bhardwaj, the designated authority for the auction. Bhardwaj is a Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Coal.

According to sources, during the meeting, officials of SBI Caps and MSTC made a detailed presentation on the auction procedure to be followed.

The designated authority took note of the queries and concerns of the prospective participants. The clarification on the same will be available in the ministry website within a week.

The designated authority earmarked seven blocks for commercial power generation sector; 16 for captive users in iron and steel, cement and so on, and one exclusively for the steel sector.

Power utilities have to follow reverse auction route so that the least cost coal producer is awarded the mine. The benefit will be passed on to the electricity consumers.

The rest of the assets will be distributed to the highest bidder, thereby generating maximum revenues to the Government.

(Source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/)