Union minister for coal and mines Pralhad Joshi has agreed to the request of Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel to keep coal mines in dense forest areas and elephant corridors in the state out of the upcoming auction of coal blocks.

Baghel made the suggestion during a meeting with the minister at the chief minister’s house in Raipur recently, according to an official statement.

The chief minister demanded that the additional levy of Rs 4,140 crore which was deposited by industrialists to the Centre according to the instructions of the Supreme Court before 2014, should be transferred to the state. Joshi agreed to the demand saying that the central government has filed an application in the Supreme Court for disposal of the aforementioned amount, based on which a decision will be taken soon.

In the meeting, Baghel also demanded transfer of the penalty amount of Rs 10,129 crore to the state, based on the Supreme Court’s decision in a common cause case.

Baghel also made the following demands during the meeting — issue of guidelines to South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL) to increase production in Gare Pelma mines immediately, utilisation of waterlogged coal mines for safe drinking water supply and irrigation, return of land to the state government after completion of the mining process and immediate action on the SECL mines that have been shut down for proper disposal of fly ash. On this, Joshi gave consent for formation of a joint team of Central Mine Planning and Design Institute, SECL and state officials.

Baghel also requested that with approval of Coal India Limited chairman on the proposal to provide coal to local small-scale industries according to their requirement, the state government should be appointed as an agency for this purpose.

While discussing the topics related to the ministry, the state government requested for amendment in the royalty rates of iron ore.

Baghel said that under the National Exploration Mineral Trust (NMET), Chhattisgarh has deposited about Rs 300 crore with the Centre. He drew the attention of Joshi towards simplification of rules for the use of this amount and for authorising the state governments to select minerals for mineral exploration. The minister agreed to the demands.

In a presentation given by the Union coal secretary Anil Kumar Jain, it was said that despite the reserves of about 150 billion tonnes in India, coal is being imported from Australia, Indonesia and other countries. Therefore, there is a need to make India self-sufficient by properly planning for adequate exploitation of the coal available in the country, it said.

Coal India chairman Pramod Aggarwal, SECL CMD A.P. Panda, additional chief secretary to the chief minister, Subrata Sahu, principal secretary (forest), Manoj Pingua, secretary to the chief minister, Siddharth Komal Pardeshi, secretary (mineral department) Anbalagan P, principal chief conservator of forests Rakesh Chaturvedi and director (mineralogy), Sameer Vishnoi, and other senior officials of the central and state government were also present.