Other States - Orissa   

Mineral cess: State to approach court

Staff Reporter

BERHAMPUR: Orissa Government is planning to approach the Supreme Court for the implementation of cess on mineral extraction in the State, said the state minister for steel and mines, Padmanabh Behera.

Speaking to newsmen during his visit to the city on Tuesday Mr Behera said implementation of this cess could have added around Rs 1200 crores to the exchequer. But the Orissa High Court objected to the implementation of this cess when some industrialists approached the High Court against it.

Mr Behera also accepted that the state is losing money as the royalty on mineral extracted from the state like coal is too low. "We get royalty of around 31 to 32 rupees for a ton of the same product that is exported at the price of 2500 rupees," he said.

According to him Huda Committee is at its final stage of preparing the report. Orissa Government is awaiting its publication to chalk out future mining policy of the State. Speaking on the MoUs signed by the State Government for steel industries, Mr Behera said although big projects are still facing hiccups around 26 projects on smaller scale are at the final stages of commissioning. These new industries would add up around 600 crore revenue for the State Government.

He said the Prime Minister convened a meeting on the progress of the steel project by POSCO on April 19.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Where women play a hereditary role
Debaprasad Nrutya Samaroha from tomorrow
Tara Tarini hill shrine steps to be widened
Education is the right of every child, says Flemish Minister
Two-day film festival gets under way today
Mahanti's case adjourned
Mineral cess: State to approach court
Tribal Council for scrapping of Polavaram
Wounded tigress in a bad shape
Firing: probe hangs in the balance
String of measures for welfare of tribals

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu