Paradip port, largest coal handling port in the country seeks waiver of storing licence norm for imported coal.
As per the Odisha Mineral (Prevention of Theft, Smuggling, and illegal mining and Regulation of Possession, Storage and Transportation (OMPTS) Rules, 2007, all mineral transaction must carry a storage licence and a transport license, to check unauthorized use of the state’s natural resources.
Several lakh tonnes of imported coal and other minerals are held up and not being despatched for want of requisite licence. It is therefore, requested that imported coking coal, non-coking coal and other mineral import may be exempted from OMPTS Rule, 2007,†it said.
The port gets about a fourth of its Rs 400 crore revenue from coal imports. It charges Rs 43 per tonne for coal, almost double of what it charges for iron ore. The unnecessary norm to get a storing license for imported coal is affecting the efficiency of the port operation and the revenue, they said.
“Sometimes we have to refuse or delay coal import orders because of non-availability of space inside the port area. The waiver of the storing license rule will pave way for faster evacuation of coal and more imports,†said a port official.
Source: BS
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