Jharkhand team to visit Odisha to learn to increase revenue from mining

Jharkhand's Finance Minister Radhakrishna Kishore said he would soon send a team to Odisha to study strategies to increase revenue from the mining sector.

He said Jharkhand, which has 40 per cent of the country's mineral reserve, generates merely Rs 11,000-12,000 crore annually from the mining sector, while the neighbouring Odisha generates around Rs 40,000 crore.

"We need to explore ways to increase the state's revenue. If we make a little effort in the mining sector, we can increase it," Kishore told PTI on Saturday.

"I will ask senior officers of my department to send a team of mining officials to Odisha to study how they are generating revenue from the mining sector and what steps they have taken," he said.

Kishore, a Congress leader, took charge of the office on Friday after he was allotted the Finance, Commercial Tax, Planning and Development Department, and the Parliamentary Affairs Department.

He said the objective of a separate Jharkhand was to ensure the economic and social development of people living in rural areas but it could not be achieved earlier.

"After Hemant Soren came to power, he made efforts in this regard and launched several welfare schemes, including Maiyan Samman Yojana, to make rural people self-reliant," the minister said.

Kishore said there were several households in rural areas that did not have even grain to eat.

"They were given food security and women of the families were linked to the Maiyan Samman Yojana, under which Rs 1,000 was provided. Now, they would be given Rs 2,500 per month so that they do not have to borrow money from anyone even for the treatment of small diseases," he said.

When asked about the funds to meet the expenses of welfare schemes, the minister said it would be managed from the state budget.

Jharkhand witnessed two elections this year and that has affected the expenditure of the budget due to the imposition of the model code of conduct, he said.

"So, we have decided that the departments, which spent up to 20 per cent of their allocations, would be asked to return funds in a certain percentage as they would not be able to spend the remaining 80 per cent in the next three months of this financial year. Similarly, the departments that spent up to 40 per cent would be asked to return at least 5 per cent of the fund. These funds would be used to support the schemes," he said. PTI SAN SOM ACD