Bhubaneswar: Centre has refused to revise the coal royalty rates putting aside the Odisha government’s demand for hike in royalty rates.
Addressing the stakeholder consultation meet on issues related to coal sector organised jointly by FICCI and the union coal ministry , here on Friday, the union coal secretary Sumanta Choudhury said that coal royalty rate hike will make power pricey. “Therefore we have to strike a balance”, he added.
Choudhry was responding to Odisha chief secretary Asit Tripathy’s pleadings for royalty rate hike.
Tripathy, while addressing the conference said that the State government’s demand for upward revision of coal is not receiving any response from the Centre. “We want along with increase in production of coal, the royalty rate should be enhanced.
The coal royalty rates have been not revised since 2015 even though it was supposed to be revised at least in every three years. Recently, though the Centre revised the rates of all major minerals, it refrained from touching coal.
Speaking on the occasion Coal India Ltd. CMD Anil Kumar Jha said demand for coal would go up till 2030 despite the policy shift towards renewable and clean energy. He said even after 2030 the country would depend on coal to meet its 50% demand of energy.
FICCI Odisha State Council president Subhrakanta Panda, Odisha additional chief secretary steel RK Sharma, agriculture principal secretary Sourav Garg, energy secretary Bishnupada Sethy and MCL CMD BN Sukla were present.
