Lockdown hits collection of mining revenue in April
Bhubaneswar: The Covid-19 outbreak has caused a severe disruption in the state’s revenue base as there has been a sharp fall in the collection of revenue from the mining sector in April. This despite the state government having listed mining operations as an essential service and allowing mining activities to continue during the lockdown.
By April 29, the collection from the mining sector is estimated at only Rs 284 crore, which is around 506 crore less than the amount that had been collected in the corresponding period of the previous year. Odisha had earned Rs 790 crore by April 29 last year from the mining sector.
This has become a cause of grave concern for the state government as the sector contributes nearly 25% to the state’s overall revenue collection.
“The fall in revenue from the mining sector is because of the fall in production and dispatch of minerals. When there is a fall in the dispatch of minerals, it will obviously hit the revenue collection,” state director of mines Deepak Mohanty told TOI.
However, a senior government official said, “With just a day left for the month to end, we expect that the total collection during April would be around Rs 300 crore as compared to Rs 900 crore collected in April last year.”
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