Odisha to Cap Mineral Transport Rate from 1 July’15

After repeated complaints from steelmakers that truck transporters are charging exorbitantly high prices for mineral transportation, the Odisha government has decided to introduce a ceiling price for transportation charges. The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by the chief secretary on Wednesday. Ceiling of transport rates is expected to benefit those industries, which are dependent on truck transport for getting supply of raw material from mines.

“The government will fix a ceiling price on the transportation of mineral within the state. It will be enforced from 1 July’15. The transport agencies or truck owners would be forced to accept the ceiling price,” said director of mines, Deepak Mohanty after attending a meeting presided over by Chief Secretary G C Pati.

According to Mohanty, the government took this decision after repeated complains from industries that different mineral transporters fix charges arbitrarily by forming cartels, which ultimately affected ore prices due to high transportation rate.

“Now, the transporters cannot go beyond a certain price,” Mohanty said.

Any violation of the ceiling, which will come into effect from next month, will attract cancellation of the transport license of the erring transporting agency, sources said. The collectors of Keonjhar, Sundargarh, Jajpur, Angul and Jagatsinghpur districts have been asked to discuss the matter with the concerned regional transport officer (RTO), superintendent of police (SP) and the agencies involved in transporting minerals and submit a report to the Commerce and Transport department by 20 June’15. After reviewing the reports submitted by the five collectors, a technical committee will stipulate a ceiling price, thereby putting a cap on the fares charged by the transport agencies.

“The state level technical committee will take the final decision on the ceiling price on mineral transportation,” Mohanty said. Moreover, the transport agencies have to pay the truck owners through check or electronically. All the trucks registered in the i3MS system of the State Mines department will charge the stipulated price fixed by the government, which will decide the price through e-tendering process.