Bhubaneswar: BJD Friday criticised the Centre for the passage of the MMDR Amendment Bill, which seeks to restrict states’ powers to levy taxes on mineral rights and mineral-bearing land parcels, asserting that “Odisha will suffer immense revenue losses” due to the legislation.
The opposition party also questioned the alleged silence of 20 BJP MLAs from the state on the issue.
Parliament Thursday passed the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026. The legislation will become law after it receives the President’s assent.
The BJD alleged that there has been widespread “smuggling of the state’s mineral resources since the BJP came to power in Odisha” and that the state will “suffer immense revenue losses” due to the amendment to the Act.
“People are the owners of mines and mineral resources in the state. After the BJP came to power, Odisha’s mineral resources are being extensively smuggled. The mining revenue is not being utilised for the development of the people. The central government is taking away the revenue generated from mineral resources, while the state government is sitting silently,” the Naveen Patnaik party said in a statement.
The royalty from mineral resources is spent through the District Mineral Foundation (DMF) for development of the people of Odisha, but “instead of doing so, the state government is planning to hand it over to the central government”, the BJD alleged.
“It is akin to sacrificing the interests of the people of Odisha. A systematic plan has been initiated to deprive the people of the state of their rightful share of all revenues to be collected from the mines,” BJD leader and former minister Priti Ranjan Gharai said.
He also claimed that it was unfortunate that 20 BJP MPs elected from Odisha supported the bill.
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