Bhubaneswar: The Biju Janata Dal on Monday reiterated its demand for revising coal royalty for Odisha, which has been pending for the last 12 years.
Raising the issue in Rajya Sabha during the Zero Hour, BJD MP Dr. Sasmit Patra said that Odisha is among the top two largest coal producing states in the country which powers the energy security of the nation. However, it’s extremely sad that despite its strong contribution to India, the state of Odisha has been deprived of its rightful increase of coal royalty for the past 12 years. Due to this, Odisha is losing about Rs.10,000 crores in coal royalty every year, he said.
The rates of royalty for Odisha were last revised on 10th May, 2012. Several demands for revision of coal royalty were made by Odisha led by former CM and BJD President and Chairperson of BJD Parliamentary Party Naveen Patnaik for revision of coal royalty. For revision of the rates of royalty on coal & lignite, a Study Group was constituted on 21st July, 2014 for the purpose of examining the issue of revision of present royalty rates on coal. The Study Group after considering all factors had submitted its report suggesting no change in the rates of royalty. This issue of enhancing rate of royalty from 14% to 20% was also raised by State of Odisha during the Eastern Zonal Council meeting held on 28th February, 2020 but the Government did not pay any heed to this demand, the BJD MP said.
The water of Odisha gets polluted due to coal mining. The air of Odisha gets polluted due to coal mining. The roads are destroyed due to thousands of trucks running for coal mining but Odisha and its 4.5 crore people are deprived of their rightful share of increase of coal royalty for the past 12 years. This is not acceptable. Due to Odisha, crores of houses in India get electricity from the coal it produces but the same Odisha loses about Rs. 10,000 crores relating to non revision of coal royalty, he said.
The BJD MP further said, “This is injustice. I am not making it a political issue. It’s a rightful governance issue for the people of Odisha. I am placing the people’s demand before you. So please consider it favourably and revise the coal royalty of Odisha to atleast 20% which will provide another 10,000 crores for Odisha with which many schools, hospitals, roads, bridges and social welfare programmes could be undertaken, especially in those areas where people are suffering from coal mining activities”.