The Coal Ministry has pulled out Bander mine in Chandrapur district of Maharashtra from the list of 41 coal blocks put up for auction for commercial mining. The Bander coal mine has been withdrawn from the 11th tranche of auction as the mine lies in the eco-sensitive zone of Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve.
Bander coal mine is now part of the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve as per notification declaring the area as eco-sensitive zone issued by the Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change (MoEF&CC).
Accordingly, the Ministry of Coal has decided to withdraw the Bander coal mine from the auction process under the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act 2015.
The block having geological reserves of 126.105 million tonne has tentative peak rated capacity of two million tpa.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the auction process of 41 coal blocks for commercial mining in June 2020.
The auction of mines for commercial mining is expected to garner Rs 33,000 crore of capital investment in the country over the next five to seven years.