By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, October 29, 2021: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday demanded a 60 per cent share of clean energy cess levied on coal for welfare of people affected by the mining activities in the state. The Centre collects around Rs 50,000 crore from Odisha as clean energy cess at a rate of Rs 400 per tonne.

The CM during his meeting with Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi and Raosaheb Patil Danve, the Minister of State for Railways made the demand and also urged them to commence operation at the state’s second AIIMS in tribal-dominated Sundargarh district at the earliest.

Odisha contributed 153.85 million tonnes of coal in 2020-21, accounting for around 25 per cent of the annual production in the country, the chief minister said during the meeting held in the CM’s residence here.

“Thus 60 per cent of the coal cess fund will give Odisha an amount of Rs 30,000 crore, which can be utilised for the economic development of coal mining areas and also for people affected by such activities,” Patnaik said.

This will also help accelerate the development activities in the post-COVID era, he said.

The clean energy cess was introduced in 2010 and later subsumed in the Goods and Service Tax (GST) compensation. With the introduction of the indirect tax regime in July 2017, the GST compensation cess is being levied at Rs 400 crore per tonne on coal production.

The integrated campus for a 500-bed hospital and 100-seat medical college at Sundargarh has been completed by NTPC. “But, it is yet to be operationalised. The state had earlier written to the Union government regarding this issue,” Patnaik said. People of Dhenkanal and Angul districts will be benefitted from the 500-bed hospital.

Considering Sundargarh’s contribution to the country’s energy security and development in terms of steel and iron ore production, the Centre should come forward to fulfil the long-standing demand of people of the district Naveen remarked.

The chief minister also requested Joshi to make MCL Medical College and Hospital at Talcher operational.

Earlier in the day, Joshi held a meeting with senior officials of the mines departments of the central and the Odisha governments.

He reviewed progress in the auction of mineral blocks in the state and directed that the allocation process should be expedited. Odisha’s Mines Minister Prafulla Kumar Mallik were present at the meeting.

Joshi and Danve are on a three-day visit to the state, amid a shortage of coal in power plants across the country.

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