Pushed back on the nuclear deal under pressure from his Left allies, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today cleared the decks for freeing up 18 coal blocks that would have the potential to set up around 68,000 MW of coal-based power stations.

These stations — both in the public and private sector — would not be dependent on the virtual monopoly that Coal India presently enjoys for their supplies of coal.

It was because of pressure from the Left that the PM had stayed clear from pushing forward amendment in the Coal Nationalisation Act that would end Coal India’s monopoly. At a meeting of the Energy Coordination Committee last year, he had said there was need for a “greater consensus” on the matter.

However, in the order cleared by the PM today, as many as 15 coal blocks would be given to the private sector for developing power projects and an additional three coal blocks would be given to the ultra mega power projects (UMPP), where each power venture would have a minimum capacity of 4,000 MW.

Ever since JMM leader Shibu Soren left the coal ministry, the PM has, for a greater part of the UPA government’s tenure, held this portfolio and has directly spearheaded reforms in this sector. Dasari Narayana Rao is the Minister of State for Coal.

What is interesting about the PM’s clearance today is that until today, roughly 80 coal blocks were allocated to the private sector. But today, in all, 30 coal blocks have been de-reserved from CIL’s ambit. While 12 are for other PSUs, 15 are for the private sector while three are for UMPPs. While one of these UMPPs is in Chhattisgarh, the other two are in Orissa and Jharkhand.

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