The News Minute | March 10, 2015 | 08:57 am IST

New Delhi: The e-auctions of coal blocks thus far, along with other levies, will yield state governments more than Rs.200,000 crore and also result in lower power tariff for consumers, Power, Coal and New and Renewable Energy Minister Piyush Goyal said on Monday.

"Delighted that the transparent e-auction of 32 coal blocks out of 204 cancelled coal blocks has already yielded potential e-auction revenues, royalties and upfront payments of Rs.207,000 crore, which is far in excess of CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General) loss estimate of Rs.186,000 crore," Goyal tweeted.

"In addition, power fuel cost will reduce by Rs.96,971 crores resulting in power tariff savings for consumers," the minister added, as the government was in the process of concluding the e-auction for another two blocks on Monday -- the fifth day of auctions.

One block will be up for grabs on Friday. In the first round that concluded last month, 19 blocks were auctioned.

The minister's tweets came after he met Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and sought to tell him that the interests of the central government was in line with those of the states.

"The Hon'ble chief minister has assured full support in our efforts to allot natural resources and our commitment to provide huge revenues to the eastern states. Odisha, West Bengal, Jharkhand & Chhattisgarh will be the largest beneficiary of the honest & transparent e-auction of coal blocks."

With IANS