High level committee is to review situation tomorrow.
Bhubaneswar: Closure of several Iron ore mines has taken a toll on the revenue collection of Odisha government. Keeping this in mind, the High Level Clearance Committee headed by Chief Secretary, Gokul Pati is scheduled to meet tomorrow to take stock of the situation. In the meeting, the committee is expected to discuss on issues like opening of mines, fall in revenue etc.
According to government data, Iron ore production in H1 FY15 has fallen by 21% to 22 MnT, which was 28.47 MnT during the same period in the previous fiscal. The fall in Iron ore production, which contributes a major share in the mineral revenue of the state, has become a major worry for the government given the uncertainty of opening the mines has risen in view of the adverse report by the Central Empowered Committee (CEC).
The mineral revenue collection of the state has fallen by 24% to INR 20.44 billion in Apr-Sep’14 against INR 27.16 billion during the same period last year. The state has set a target to collect INR 63 billion in the current fiscal from the mining sector, but given the current uncertain circumstances, it is unlikely to achieve the target.
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