Rs 6320 cr pending royalty to released for Assam

Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma today said PSU oil majors ONGC and OIL will release Rs 6,320 crore pending royalty to the state for 2008-2014 within the next two years.
"Out of Rs 6,320 crore due to us, the Centre will release 15 per cent or Rs 948 crore within the next month. Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan will himself visit Assam to give us the amount," Sarma told a press conference.
Another Rs 2,844 crore will be released in 2017-18, while the remaining Rs 2,528 crore will be given in 2018-19 financial year, he added.
Sarma said Rs 6,320 crore will be in addition to Rs 1,450 crore that the state has already received from the oil companies in August last year for the difference in royalty payable at pre-discounted price from 2014 to 2016.

With Assam receiving Rs 3,792 crore of oil royalty during 2017-18, which was not considered while tabling the state's budget for the next fiscal earlier this month, the deficit of Rs 2,349.79 crore will be taken care of.
"In fact, we will have a surplus budget of over Rs 1,000 crore. People can now be reassured that the government will implement all the promises made in the budget," he said.