Odisha to urge Centre for enhancement of mining output

Bhubaneswar, Nov 18:

Concerned over the falling mining revenue affecting the economy of the state, the Odisha government has decided to urge the Centre to allow it to raise the mineral output of some mines to meet the revenue target.

It has also decided to sell the minerals stocked at various places and asked the lessees to meet the target of dispatching 57 million tonne of iron ore this financial year. Even after allowing for the despatch of 15 million tonne of stock from the previous fiscal, the state government apprehends that the total despatch of all mines would be around 43 million tonne, less than the capping of 57 million tonne despatch this year, a government official said.

“We have decided to request the Centre to approve the enhancement of mining output applications of some mines to improve revenue collection. It would help fetch revenue for the state,” said mines director Deepak Mohanty.

The decision was taken at a meeting held at the mines directorate Tuesday.

The government has decided to urge the Centre to approve the applications of the mines belonging to the Sirajuddin, Rungta and S. N. Mohanty groups, which account for 16 million tonne of output.

The Odisha government collected Rs. 2343 crore as mining revenue by Oct end of 2014-15 financial year against the target of Rs 3275 crore. This is a sharp fall of around Rs. 900 crore. The government has set a target of collecting Rs 6,346 crore revenue from mining activities in 2014-15.

It had collected Rs 5,500 crore against the target of Rs 6,000 crore in 2013-14. The government had collected Rs 3077 crore by Oct end in 2013-14. The total despatch of iron ore upto September has been 22.32 mt, against 28.47 mt achieved in the same period last year.

Presently, 36 iron ore mines are operating in the state, out of which 29 belong to merchant miners.

(IANS)