Coal royalty may be revised in Aug

The Centre will take a decision on the revision of royalty on coal next month. This was indicated by Union Coal Secretary PC Parikh today.

Parikh, who is on a four-day visit to the state, told reporters that a high level committee set up by the Centre to look into the question of coal royalty revision, is scheduled to meet next month.

The Centre would take steps to revise the rates as soon as it received the recommendations of the committee, he added.

It may be noted that though the Sarkaria Commission onCentre-state relation had recommended revision of royalties on coal and other minerals every two years, there has always been inordinate delays in acting on the matter by the Centre. The last time the royalty on coal was revised, was in 2002 after a gap of eight years.

Coal-mining states such as Orissa, West Bengal and Jharkhand had been clamouring for timely revision of the royalty citing loss of revenue due to delays.

According to an estimate, Orissa alone had suffered a loss of Rs 830 crore due to the delay in the revision of coal royalty since 1997.

Parikh, who met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik yesterday, assured the Centre would take necessary steps to meet the coal needs of small industries of the state.

He discussed various issues, including short supply of coal to different groups of consumers after the introduction of the electronic auctioning system.

Official sources said, Orissa Chief Secretary Subas Pani requested Parikh to ensure supply of the annual quota of 50,000 tonnes to the Orissa Small Industries Corporation (OSIC), the nodal agency for supplying coal to small industries in the state.

Pani also requested him to meet the coal needs of all type of consumers in the state through Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd. The annual coal requirement of the state is pegged at about three lakh tonnes.

On the issue of e-auctioning of coal, Parikh said the new system will be here to stay and assured steps to stabilise coal prices which had soared due to short supply of the commodity. Coal prices went up after the introduction of the e-auction system which replaced the open sales system (OSS). Now the prices had started declining, he said.

Coal production had not been adequate, creating a gap between demand and supply, the coal secretary said.

He linked the low production of coal to law and orderproblems and delay in getting clearances from various agencies, including the ministry of forests and environment.

The new coal blocks identified could not be exploredbecause of local resistance, he said. The issue of rehabilitation of displaced families was also discussed in the meeting.

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Royalty mess

Royalty was last revised in 2002, after a gap of eight years

Coal-mining states have been demanding timely revision, citing loss of revenue due to delays

Orissa alone had suffered a loss of Rs 830 crore since 1997 due to delay