According to a decision taken by a high level official committee today, the truck owners who get online transit permit to ferry the minerals will have to charge rates based on online tendering process.
"The government has decided to engage truck owners and transport agencies by an e-tendering process. OMC has been asked to formulate modalities for it and implement the process within two months," said Deepak Mohanty, director of mines after the meeting, which was chaired by Chief Secretary and attended by representatives of mine owners and steel plants.
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"Till then, the truckers can charge the rates at a price to be fixed by district collectors," he added. In the e-auction process, OMC will fix a base price for road transportation of iron ore from mines pithead to various locations inside and outside of the state on behalf of the government after consultation with all stakeholders. The truck owners and transport agencies will be asked to go for reverse bidding to get the transport order.
OMC might rope in an IT solution provider to develop an online platform for it, officials who attended the meeting said.
Road transport charges for minerals in Odisha are very high as the truck owners, operating in cartel at different mines pitheads, arbitrarily jack up the prices. This was a trend which was continuing since 2008-09 when the demand and rates of minerals, particularly iron ore, had spiralled in the international market. Though the iron ore prices have come down since, the transporters were still charging very high rates to carry minerals, said a miner.
A couple of years ago, acting on the complains of mine owners and mineral traders, the state government had fixed rates for mineral transport at different mine heads. However, the charges never dropped as district administrations could not implement the order in their respective area. The state government, meanwhile, has made it mandatory for all truck owners to register their vehicles to transport the minerals. Truck owners refusing to charge the rates fixed by tendering process will not be issued transit pass, according to today's decision.
Mine owners and industry officials welcomed the move, but said, they will wait for sometime to see whether the new system is working or not
"The decision taken by the government is certainly a welcome step. But we will be able to know its workability once it gets implemented," said Prabodh Mohanty, secretary of the East Zone Miners' Association (EZMA).