Bhubaneswar, Sept. 23 -- Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government on Tuesday urged the Centre to postpone e-auction of coal blocks in the state for at least three months in view of the sluggish market situation due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Odisha Steel and Mines Minister Prafulla Kumar Mallick wrote a letter to Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi, saying that mineral trading activities have been badly hit due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Nine of the total 38 coal blocks listed by the Centre for coal mining in the first phase are from Odisha.

The coal ministry in early September had revised the list of mines to be auctioned for commercial mining with 38 blocks to go under the hammer instead of 41 mines announced earlier.

At least 10,750 million ton...