BHUBANESWAR: The BJP on Monday rejected the Opposition criticism over the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026, which was passed by the Parliament recently, asserting that the changes would not cause any revenue loss to the state.
Party spokesperson Anil Biswal said the MMDR amendments would create a stable and transparent regulatory framework and make India’s mining sector more competitive. The new reforms would accelerate exploration and production of critical and strategic minerals and ensure raw materials required by industries such as semiconductors are available at uniform prices across the country.
“Odisha will not lose even a single rupee in revenue because of the new amendments. Rather, greater competition in the market will generate more revenue. The amendments would attract fresh investment, promote industrial development and employment and support long-term economic growth,” Biswal said.
He said it was an irony that the Congress and BJD were raising concerns over mining revenue when large-scale mining irregularities had taken place during their regimes. He asked the Opposition to explain why Odisha’s mining revenue was lower during their tenure and where the uncollected money went.
Biswal said the state received only around Rs 5,000 crore in mining revenue in 2013 while the figure had now risen to around Rs 55,000 crore annually. This was made possible due to the amendments to the MMDR Act in 2015 by the Narendra Modi government. He said the premium auction mechanism had enabled states to earn higher revenues. The DMF mechanism is providing `8,000-`10,000 crore annually for development in mineral-bearing districts, he said.
