Joda: Some of the new lease holders had shown in their returns that they had mined low quality iron ores in September, 2020. Thereby, their sales value had decreased.
Taking serious note of the matter, Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) had issued a letter to the directorate of mines of the state government, asking it to assess the average value of all minerals produced by all mines in September and intimate it to the IBM.
It is learnt that when lease holders show the extracted minerals as low quality stuff in records, their sales value affects the revenue collection of the state government.
As per the Rule-45(5) B of the MCDR-2017, lease holders usually file returns for the minerals extracted every month.
According to the Rule-42(3) and 43 of the Mineral Concession Rule 2016, on the basis of their returns, the IBM usually gets to know the monthly average sales value of minerals and publish them.
On the other hand, the state government determines the revenue of extracted minerals on the basis of their monthly sales average value and grades of the minerals.
The IBM asserted that as compared to previous months, the sales value and total sales value of the extracted minerals in September had decreased, leading to a huge loss of revenue for the state government.
A high-level committee of the IBM had held its meeting to assess the average value of the minerals sold in September. Then it came to know that the grades of the minerals at Jajang and Jiling Langalata mines have fallen by 55 per cent in September as compared to previous months.
Similarly, grades of iron ores mined from Bhapali, Jajanga, and Badampahad mines had fallen by 55 and 58 percent respectively in the same month.
As the state government has suffered huge loss in terms of revenues, the IBM, in its letter dated 28.12.2020, has sought GST and invoices of the extracted minerals for the month of September.
On the other hand, grades of minerals are allegedly tampered and shown as low grades before exporting them outside the state. High grade minerals usually generate more revenue than the low grade minerals.
It may be noted here that this newspaper had carried a report about mineral grade tempering and tax evasion by some lease holders in the last part of September, this year.
PNN