Privatize coal mining – what matters is efficiency

I belong to the coal capital of India – Dhanbad and it makes me really sad that every time I hear about Dhanbad in national news it’s about some mine tragedy.

Do you know - for the last 25 - 30 years major chunk of underground coal resources near Dhanbad is burning and getting wasted and government has not been able to control the fire. In fact they are not even trying to control it. It’s like letting oil well at Bombay High burn its resources.

Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL) must be the biggest white elephant under government of India but somehow nobody cares because it not a corporate but a department. Even an idiot can tell you that such waste of resources in a country that is dependent on imports for its energy needs is blasphemous. On one end there is a major political battle going on in Orrisa whether we should allow foreigners to own our resources and on the other end we are letting our natural resources burn to ashes. Can you believe it - coal capital of India is importing coal from countries like Australia and China and using alternative sources like petcoke.

A proper audit of BCCL will reveal many skeletons in its cupboards.
1. They are showing coal stock of crores in inventory while actually they have nothing but stones lying there
2. Purchase of spares and parts are done at a price which is 30 – 40 times the cost price. (I know that because my friends are in the business of supplying parts)
3. Illegal mining is rampant and most of the politicians are the biggest beneficiaries

We need to learn there is no alternative to efficiency. If a foreign company is more efficient is mining then let them do mining and take a good share in their exploits through profit sharing agreement. No point wasting resources that cannot be renewed. And when we are ready to let foreign companies enter oil exploration in India why not coal mining?

The policy of limited exploration rights to corporate for captive consumption is another fraud by Indira Gandhi (who nationalized coal mines in 70’s) and corporate like TATA group.

Lets there be open bidding like in case of oil exploration and have revenue share agreement. We can’t complain about energy resource cost at one end and waste resources like that on the other. Sonia Gandhi do you have the guts to correct your mother-in-law’s mistake?