Odisha sees drop in mining revenue

Odisha has witnessed a fall in mining revenue.

The Odisha government collected Rs.2,343 crore as mining revenue by October end of the 2014-15 financial year against a target of Rs.3,275 crore.

The mining revenue has posted a fall of Rs.734 crore against the target forcing the government to hold a meeting with mine owners Nov 18.

The government would ask them to increase despatch of iron ore stocked at various places to increase the revenue.

"The mining revenue has been badly affected in the current year, which is a cause of concern. After the Supreme Court imposed restriction on operation of 26 mines, the revenue has been affected," Steel and Mines Minister Prafulla Mallick told reporters here.

He said a meeting will be held to discuss the matter with lease holders and work out ways to improve mining revenue.

According to the minister, the state 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 collected Rs.3,077 crore by Oct end in 2013-14. However, the government may not reach the target of collecting Rs.6,346 crore this financial year even after revision in royalty from September this year.

With iron ore contributing 60 percent of the mining revenue, the fall in despatch has affected collection of revenue, said a mining department official.

The mining revenue collection had dropped by 24 percent as only Rs.2044 crore had been collected by end of September 2014 as against a target of Rs.2716 crore. The total despatch of iron ore up to September has been 25.42 Million Ton (MT) as against 28.47 MT for 2013-14 up to the corresponding period. The production was 23.49 MT against 31.05 MT last year, said the official.

The major cause for this decline is attributed to the fall in average sale price of iron ore. There are 36 iron mines presently operating in the state, out of which 29 are non-captive. The state government has also imposed a cap of 57 MT iron ore production in Joda and Koira circles in the state.

However, the government has given permission for despatch of 20 MT of iron ore already produced and stored in the mines in addition to the 57 MT ore that will be produced during the current fiscal.