ROURKELA: The coronavirus pandemic has hit the royalty revenue collection in Koida Mining Circle (KMC) of Sundargarh district.KMC is set for a record low in the First Quarter (Q1) of 2020-21 as its revenue collection stood at around Rs120 crore during April and May. The downward trend is likely to continue for next few months due to slowdown in production during monsoon.
This comes in the backdrop of KMC reporting a record revenue of over Rs 1,700 crore during 2018-19 against the target of Rs 1,020 crore and repeating the feat again in 2019-20 by collecting more than Rs 1,700 against the revised target of Rs 1,400 crore. Incidentally, KMC had suffered losses for four consecutive years before 2018-19.
Sources said the Q1 royalty revenue collection of KMC from April to June in 2019-20 was a whopping Rs 700 crore. But in April and May of 2020-21, the collection stood at a meagre Rs 120 crore with little scope for making up the Q1 shortfall in June. Deputy Director of Mines, Koida LD Nayak attributed the Q1 revenue dip to disruption in mining operations in the first two phases of lockdown. From third week of April, excavation and dispatch of minerals picked up momentum. The KMC has not yet received revenue target for 2020-21 and is hopeful of improving its revenue performance in remainder of the year.
Nayak said as of now, excavation and dispatch operations are underway in 30 mines. The eight mines closed in March after expiry of lease period are only allowed to dispatch old stocks. Industry sources informed that the majority of iron and steel industries in Sundargarh and neighbourhood areas procure iron ore from KMC and adjacent Joda Mining Circle in Keonjhar district. With production gradually picking up, the KMC may bounce back in coming months, they added.