It includes machine operators, raising contractors, illegalexporters, those who do business through international front companies, thosewho do not pay royalty. Everyone is the “lobby”.
Agreed, there is much, in fact, a lot much that is rotten inthe state of mining that even a ten year clean-up operation may not solve. Thepoint of argument in this editorial is limited. Has the Chief Minister ManoharParrikar actually reneged on his announcement that he would rake in Rs 2500 crore from the “mining lobby” and islooking at a much undervalued figure of Rs 900 crores, as reported in a localdaily.
Now the cold math. Thetotal amount that the Parrikar government will get from mining related fees, cessand royalty is Rs 2500 crore of not more and not Rs 900 crores as reportssuggest. A bit of its math also doesn’t add up. The amount payable as stampduty is actually Rs 2 lakh per lakh tons of EC and not Rs 1 lakh per tone.Assuming that the total EC of Goa is 45 million tons , the stamp duty payableis Rs 900 crores. This is only just one component of the total pay outs.
There is cess, conversion charges and royalty that thisgovernment insists has to be paid. In fact, the flip side of the center versus state conflict on the issueof export of ore from mining dumps is that the allowance of this export isactually an insistence which will lead to a recovery of a further 600 crores,at the rate of 25 million tons a year. For dumps in lease areas the cess amountis Rs 200 per ton in addition to royalty. In forest areas, an auction price hasto be paid plus royalty and cess and in private areas there is a conversioncharge plus royalty plus cess. This adds to Rs 600 crores taking the totalaccrued from stamp duty and dump earnings to Rs 1500 crores. Add the royaltyfigures of Rs 950 crores and you have a total of Rs 2500 crores approx.
What still goes unnoticed is the increase in recovery ofunpaid royalty and the cutting down of theft and illegal ore transport throughthe installation of tracking devices and weighing of roe at different points.According to both the government and industry, this alone will value over Rs500 crores, though recoveries and savings. Compare this Rs 3000 crore recoveryfrom the mining lobby to the less than Rs 1000 crores of the previousgovernment and the picture is clear.
This by no means lets the government off the hook with regardto cleaning up the industry but on the issue of getting more from the “lobby”,rupee to rupee versus the previousgovernment the figures are all too clearto merit even a discussion.
