"A few complaints were received regarding cartelization in bidding... It is not possible to conclusively establish the same until investigations are carried out by competent authority,' coal and power minister Piyush Goyal told Lok Sabha in a written reply.
TOI had on March 17 first reported that the government was poised to reject the winning bids for three blocks due to unusually low offers amid talks of cartelization.
Subsequently, the government did not accept the bids for Gare Palma IV/2 and 3 and Tara blocks, for which Naveen Jindal's Jindal Power group firms were the winners, and Gare Palma IV/1 won by Balco, saying the bid prices did not reflect fair value.
The issue has been referred to the Competition Commission to examine whether there was cartelization among the bidders.
In reply to another question, Goyal said the auction and allotments through government route of 67 blocks is expected to generate approximately Rs 3.35 lakh crore. In addition, the benefits to consumers in terms of reduction of electricity tariffs are likely to be about Rs 69,310.97 crore.
Out of 204 coal blocks cancelled by the Supreme Court last year, the government has so far allocated 67 coal mines through auction and allotment in the current year.
"One coal block, namely Ardhagram, where the successful bidder was declared has been handed over to designated custodian in view of court case," Goyal said.
He said no time limit has been fixed for completing the allocation process of all the 204 mines. Of the total 67 mines, the maximum 20 mines went to Jharkhand, followed by 14 to Chhattisgarh and 11 to West Bengal among others. Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and Telangana are the other states to which the mines were allocated.
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