Minister of State for Coal, Pratik PrakashBapu Patil said
the government allocated coal blocks to some of the state-run companies without any restriction of specified end-use projects (EUPs), in pursuance of provisions of the Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Act, 1973.
In a written reply in Rajya Sabha, Patil said 178 coal blocks stand allocated as on date and out of these, 35 coal blocks have gone into production.
The coal blocks have been allocated for captive mining to eligible private sector companies and specified EUPs to be set up as well as existing ones.
The end use projects include generation of power, production of iron & steel, production of cement, washing of coal obtained from a mine and production of syn-gas through coal gasification (underground and surface) and coal liquefication.