(MENAFN- IANS) New Delhi, Oct 24 (IANS) The Ministry of Coal has handed over another three coal blocks to successful bidders, under the commercial auction route, for which the Coal Mine Development and Production Agreements were signed on August 21 this year, according to an official statement issued on Friday.

The blocks for which vesting orders were issued on Thursday, include Rajgamar Dipside (Deavnara), Tangardihi North and Mahuagarhi. Among these, 2 blocks are partially explored and 1 block is fully explored with peak rated capacity of 1 million tonnes per annum. The total geological reserves of these three blocks are around 1,484.41 million tonnes, the statement said.

These blocks are expected to generate an annual revenue of about Rs. 189.77 crore and attract a capital investment of Rs 150 crore. As many as 1,352 people are expected to get employment directly and indirectly through these mining ventures, the statement explained.

Allocation orders have now been issued for 130 coal blocks under commercial auctions with cumulative peak rated capacity of 267.244 million tonnes per annum. This is expected to generate an annual revenue of around Rs 37,700 crores and will generate employment for over 3,61,300 people both directly and indirectly.

In 2025, the Ministry of Coal launched the 13th round of commercial coal block auctions in August and successfully auctioned seven coal blocks in July. The Ministry also issued vesting orders for five more blocks earlier in October. The 13th round of auctions offers both fully and partially explored blocks, and includes reforms like incentives for early production and updated penalties for delays.

As part of the coal sector reforms, the government has moved from an earlier restrictive model, to granting coal mining blocks pursuant to a competitive bidding process, and from prescribing specific end-use to permitting commercial sale of coal. The auction-based regime introduced in 2014 allowed private sector participation, however it was limited to captive usage in own end use plants. Now, the sector has been opened up for commercial coal mining by private players in 2020.

Commercial coal block auctions are conducted in a two-stage online bidding process, which involves technical screening and submission of competitive initial price offers in the first stage, and a second and final stage where better price offers are intended to be received.

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