The process of allocating 17 coal blocks to the public sector companies will start by the end of April, and the government wants to allot blocks through auction route as soon as possible, coal secretary S K Srivastava said.

Last year, the government had announced a total of 14 coal blocks for public sector power companies and 3 blocks for mining firms.

On being asked about the start of the allocation process, Srivastava said, "It should be by middle of April or end of April."

Srivastava added that the ministry was addressing the issues, and that it wanted to come out with auction route for the coal block allocation at the earliest possible.

When asked for a comment on the government's recent decision about hike in basic custom & countervailing duty (CVD) on steam coal, the secretary said that it would not have a big impact on the power tariff.

In his Budget speech last Thursday, Finance Minister P Chidambaram announced hikes in the basic customs duty on steam coal from zero to 2 per cent and CVD from 1 per cent to 2 per cent.

Separately, Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram hinted that private sector coal miners would soon be allowed to sell coal to users directly, while the government-owned Coal India Ltd will only be raising the bills for the transactions.