Bhubaneswar: The state government has not utilised even five per cent of the total funds it collected through District Mineral Foundation (DMF) trusts for development of districts affected by mining in the state.
Planning and convergence minister Usha Devi Thursday informed the House that of `3,008crore received under these trusts, only 2.94 per cent has been utilised so far.
Orissa being a mineral-rich state, District Mineral Foundation (DMF) trusts have been formed in all districts since 2015-16 fiscal for their development.
As per the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, mining firms contribute a certain percentage of their royalties they pay to the government, to this fund. However, this contribution doesn’t exceed one-third (33 per cent) of the royalty.
The DMF trust funds are utilised on checking environment pollution, drinking water projects, healthcare and education, skill development, sanitation and housing, irrigation, watershed development projects, afforestation, women and child welfare, besides many other programmes at the district level.
The statistics of the steel and mines department revealed that as of June 2017, Orissa has collected a whopping `3008.89 crore through these trusts in 28 districts. A segregation of the data suggests that Angul has received highest `311 crore in 2015-16, `275 crore in 2016-17 and `68 crore as of June in the current fiscal. Likewise, Jharsuguda has received `42 crore in 2015-16, `285 crore in 2016-17 and `47 crore as of June in this fiscal.
Besides, many other mineral-bearing districts such as Keonjhar, Sundargarh, Koraput, Jajpur and Rayagada have received sizeable amounts under DMF between 2015-16 and 2017-18 (till June) fiscal.
However, the planning and convergence minister, in her written reply to MLA Ranendra Pratap Swain in the Assembly, said only `88.55 crore, that is only 2.94 per cent of this fund has been utilised so far for carrying out development works in the affected districts.
The funds have been utilised only in 10 districts. The highest fund of `27 crore has been utilised in Keonjhar. Besides, `17 crore has been utilised in Angul, `22 lakh in Dhenkanal, `6.4 crore in Jajpur, `2.3 crore in Jharsuguda, `17 lakh in Khurda, `14.51 crore in Koraput, `1.70 crore in Mayurbhanj, `5.74 crore in Rayagada and `12.9 crore in Sundargarh.
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