BHUBANESWAR : Former minister and senior BJD legislator Ranendra Pratap Swain on Monday came down heavily on Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi for not keeping his promise to take stringent action against illegal mining in the state.
Participating in the discussion on the budget of Steel and Mines department, Swain said the chief minister had announced that jails are ready for those who have looted minerals of the state. But no action has been taken. On the other hand, the mining syndicate now exerts control over Odisha’s political spectrum, he alleged.
The former minister said the state suffers huge loss of revenue because of the undervalued price of minerals. Odisha produces 240 million tonne of coal annually but consumes only 20 million tonne. It sells coal at Rs 900 to Rs 3,500 per tonne, while imported coal of the same grade is priced at Rs 13,000 per tonne. Companies like Adani, Vedanta and Birla acquire coal at significantly lower prices, he said.
Similarly, Odisha loses Rs 5,400 crore per year due to undervaluation of bauxite. The state earns approximately Rs 175 per tonne from bauxite while global prices are Rs 7,000 per tonne, Swain said.
Imposing a 50 per cent cess on the global price could yield Rs 3,500 per tonne, which is 20 times more than the current collection of the state. Similarly, from iron ore and manganese, Odisha can get Rs 40,000 crore and Rs 400 crore more revenue respectively by imposing 50 per cent cess on market value of the minerals.
Swain said the Supreme Court’s judgments on July 25, 2024 and August 14, 2024 enabled the state government to recover more than Rs 2 lakh crore annually from mining operators. The state is also entitled to Rs 1.5 lakh crore in retrospective dues from them.
But despite clear judicial directives, the state government is intentionally avoiding implementation by citing the ORISED Act 2004, which is still pending before the Supreme Court. By not introducing a new bill, the state government is losing lakhs of crores every year, he said.
