Coal mining thrown open to pvt sector

NEW DELHI, FEB 17: The Cabinet decided on Wednesday to allow participation of domestic companies in mining and exploration of coal and li...

NEW DELHI, FEB 17: The Cabinet decided on Wednesday to allow participation of domestic companies in mining and exploration of coal and lignite by amending the Coal Mines Nationalisation Act. In another major decision, the Cabinet has approved lowering the limit to qualify as a small scale unit to Rs 1 crore from the existing limit of Rs 3 crore.

Briefing the press after the Cabinet meeting, minister for information and broadcasting Pramod Mahajan said that following the passage of the bill in Parliament it will only be private Indian companies which will be able to enter the hitherto closed sector of coal and lignite mining. Mines which were nationalised in 1973 will continue to be under the public sector companies, he underscored.

Mahajan ruled out allowing any international or multinational companies in the area of exploration of coal and lignite in the country. He said there would be no change on the nationalisation of the original mines.

quot;The private companies will be allowed participation in miningof coal and lignite in new areas,quot; Mahajan said adding the rules will be framed after parliamentary approval was given for the amendment in the Act.

On the new investment ceiling for SSIs, Mahajan said that units which had moved into the SSI sector as a result of the investment band having been expanded will be denotified as small scale units. The investment limit to qualify as a tiny unit has been left unchanged at Rs 25 lakh.

The government8217;s decision to lower the qualification limit for SSIs comes as a surprise as the government had repeatedly said that it wants to extend the benefits of the SSI category to a larger number of units. Relatively small units had been complaining that they were coming under pressure from large units and multinational companies. As a result of the decision fewer companies will qualify in the SSI category which would leave a large number of companies in the cold.

The Cabinet also decided that it will maintain the fare for Haj pilgrims at the same level as the fare in 1994which is Rs 12,000 per pilgrim. As a result of keeping the fare constant at the five year old figure the ministry of civil aviation will bear an increased subsidy burden of Rs 17,640 per pilgrim. In 1994 when the fare was Rs 12,000 the subsidy per passenger was Rs 5,000. The number of pilgrims this year are expected to be 63,000 a jump from the level of 30,000 in 1994. The aggregate subsidy on account of the actual fare of Rs 29,640 this year plus the larger number of pilgrims will take the government8217;s subsidy to Rs 111.03 crore, the minister said. The government has acquired six wide-bodied aircraft from Mido Aviation Group of the US on wet lease to ferry the pilgrims.

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The Cabinet also approved to incorporate the amendments suggested by the standing committee for the ministry of home affairs for the code of Civil Procedures Amendment Bill.

The Cabinet also decided to amend the air services agreement between India and Maldives. As per the new agreement, both countries will have the right to designate twoairlines to operate the services, Mahajan said.