Jajpur: Water cess amounting to over Rs 7,262.424 crore is outstanding on 223 industrial firms in the state from 2020-21 to 2023-24 FY. Similarly, Rs 797.72 crore is outstanding on 55 mining firms during the same period. The startling figures came to the fore in the reply of Engineer-In-Chief (EIC) Bhakta Ranjan Mohanty of the Water Resources department to a star question-262 made in the state Assembly, July 25. Mohanty in his reply to the star question said that only Rs 859.02 crore has been collected towards water cess by March 2024 while a total of Rs 8,060 crore is outstanding. In a bid for a one-time settlement of water cess, the state government showed favour to some firms and waived off their water cess. The state government waiving off Rs 56.4 crore as water cess outstanding on Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDCO) in November, 2015 is a case in this point.
However, IDCO, which looks after the water supply to the industrial firms at Kalinganagar in Jajpur, is still left with an outstanding amount of Rs 62.45 crore. The Water Resources Department has been trying to recover the outstanding water cess from September 2020 but with little success. Sources said several thousand cusecs of water drawn through high-power motor pumps from various rivers and other water bodies is being sold to various industrial firms. IDCO has been drawing water from Brahmani River and supplying to various industrial firms at Kalinganagar for last 25 years after signing an agreement with the Water Resources department. This has raised question marks as to what ails the IDCO and other industrial firms in making timely payment of water cess.
According to the report of the EIC, over 40 industrial and mining firms in the state have maximum amount of outstanding water cess. Among them, Rs 11.46 crore is outstanding on Bindal Sponge Iron at Talcher, Rs 138.16 crore on NTPC, Chainpala, Rs 19.89 crore on ArcellorMittal Nippon Steel India Ltd, Rs 78.18 crore on Rathi Steel and Power, and Rs 130.98 crore on Maheswari Ispat Ltd at Joda.
Similarly, Rs 66.62 crore water cess is outstanding on ArecellorMittal Nippon Steel India Ltd at Paradip, Rs 269.24 crore on Shyam Metallics and Energy at Sambalpur, Rs 211.89 crore at Orient Paper Mill, Rs 1,070 crore at NLC India Ltd, Rs 145.91 crore on Tata Steel BSL Ltd in Brajarajnagar, Rs 32.47 crore on BRB Iron and Steel in Khuntuni, Rs 11.56 crore on Utkal Asbestos in Dhenkanal, Rs 50,46 crore on Tata Steel at Kalinagangar, Rs 160.24 crore on Adhunik Metallics in Sundargarh, Rs 204.77 crore on Jindal Steel and Power in Angul, Rs 37.31 crore on Aska Cooperative Sugar Factory, Rs 239.08 crore on JK Corporation Ltd in Rayagada, and Rs 1,149.09 crore on Ballarpur Industries in Chowdwar. Furthermore, Rs 702.54 crore is pending on Odisha Power Consortium, Rs 235.16 crore on Arati Steel at Ghantikhal in Athagarh, Rs 192.48 crore on Bhushan Power and Steel Ltd in Sambalpur, Rs 167.82 crore on Tata Refractories Ltd at Belpahar, Rs 77.59 crore on Biraj Steel and Energy in Sambalpur, Rs 28.71 crore on Reliance Industries in Dhenkanal, Rs 2,198.86 crore on Sewa Paper Mill and Rs 211.89 crore on Orient Paper Mill in Jeypore. The mining firms with outstanding water cess are Lingaraj OCP, MCL (Rs 136.65 crore), Bharatpur OCP (Rs 78.40 crore), Bhubaneswari OCP (Rs 30.01 crore), Ananta OCP (Rs 26.57 crore), Jagannath Colliery (Rs 32.13 crore), Hingula OCP (Rs 17.28 crore), Balarampur OCP (Rs 18.46 crore), Talcher Colliery (Rs 21.60 crore), Nandira Colliery (Rs 37.21 crore), Orient Area in Jharsuguda (Rs 36.05 crore), TPSL Ltd (Rs 27.49 crore), ITPS at Banharpali (Rs 28.03 crore), Tata Steel Mines division at Joda (Rs 223.55 crore) and MCL at Sundargarh (Rs 14.70 crore).