Third Round of Coal Block Auction on August 11-17

New Delhi, June 4 (IANS): The government on Thursday said the third round of coal block auction will be held from August 11 to 17 later this year. Coal Secretary Anil Swarup said the government will auction 10 blocks to steel and cement companies.

Out of the 10 blocks, four are based in Maharashtra, two each are located in Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, and one each is in Odisha and Madhya Pradesh. The government will notify the mines on June 8. It will accept bids till the last submission date which has been slated for July 21.

The government has claimed that it made Rs.2 lakh crore by re-auctioning 29 mines in the last two rounds. Over 200 coal mines are to be auctioned.