Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has notified the District Mineral Foundation (DMF) rule. As per the rule, all major mineral lease holders including iron ore, bauxite, coal etc need to pay the DMF an amount equivalent to such percentage of royalty as prescribed by the central government. On the other hand, all minor mineral lease holders who bags leases through auction would have to pay the DMF an amount equal to 25% of the royalty. For all minerals, the DMF contribution would be equal to the royalty amount if the lease is not granted through auction.
Last month Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik had approved the formation of DMF in the mineral beaing districts of Odisha. In each district, there will be a DMF which will have a Board of Trustees headed by either the Revenue Divisional Commissioner (RDC) or District Collector as per the decision of the state government. District collector will be the Managing Trustee of DMF. District level officers of Steel & Mines, Forest & Environment, Rural Development, Works, ST & SC Development, Health & Family Welfare and other departments, as the state government will specify, will be the members f the board. Each member of Lok Sabha and member of the Odisha legislative assembly in whose constituency any major mineral concession is situated shall be member of the DMF. Member of zilla parishad and three members from panchayati raj institutions or urban local bodies will be taken as members. The Board of Trustees will prepare the master plan for development of the area and will make annual budget for implementing projects.
A senior official from directorate of mines shared that the Odisha govt. has in principle notified DMF and committee has been formed, however they have not yet started collecting the dues from any of the districts in the state. He further added that DMF will be applicable from the date it will be notified and not on retrospective basis.
As per the MMDR Amendment Act, 2015 existing mine owners could be charged up to 100% of their royalty as their contribution towards DMF and new leases could be charged upto 33% of royalty. The state govt. is demanding for 100% royalty on existing mining leases. On the other hand, the central govt. is likely to fix the DMF contribution at 30% of the royalty for existing leases and 10% of the royalty for new leases. It is expected that the guidelines for the same will be notified by the central govt. within a week.
Leave a Reply