Odisha Govt raises Rs 1,100 crore under District Mineral Foundation
The 1st meeting of the State Level Committee (SLC) on District Mineral Foundation (DMF) was held under the Chairmanship of Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi in the State secretariat conference hall on Thursday in which district level committees led by the Collectors participated though video conferencing.
The Principal Secretary Steel & Mines Sri Raj Kumar Sharma advised the Collectors to look in to the amended ODMF Rules and guidelines and plan the collection and expenditures of funds accordingly. Replying to a media query after the meeting, Sri Sharma said that State Level Committee has been constituted under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary as per the notification of Government on 14th July, 2016.
The District Mineral Foundations have been formed in all the districts and in many major districts the foundations have started implementing the developmental projects. Sri Sharma added that as of now, more than Rs. 1100 crore has been collected as District Mineral Foundation Fund in various districts.
Development Commissioner Sri R. Balakrishnan participating in the discussion suggested to establish last –mile road connectivity to the remote cut off habitations for delivery of essential services. The districts were also asked to utilize the technical and manpower expertise of the line departments for preparation and implementation of the projects under DMF. Development Commissioner also advised the line departments in heavy mining districts to deploy more manpower like engineers, technical staff etc for execution of the projects as per the necessity.
Amended rule shows, in case of major minerals 30% of royalty for mining leases granted before 12 th Jan 2015 and 10% of the royalty of the mining leases granted after this date is to be collected as the Mineral Fund. For minor minerals 30% of the royalty for leases not granted through auction and 10% of the royalty for leases granted through auction would be collected.
The meeting also discussed the proposals for including the infrastructural projects for welfare of old-age persons, persons with disabilities, transgender, drug-addicts and working women. It was decided that the Executive Committees of the DMF may consider the projects like establishment of old age home, district rehabilitation centers, homes for mentally retarded persons, drug de-addiction centers etc for mining affected areas and people.