Bhubaneswar: Union Coal and Mines minister Pralhad Joshi and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Friday met in Bhubaneswar to discuss various issues relating to coal and mining sectors in the state.
During the meeting, Naveen reiterated the demands of the state government that the rates of royalty should be increased and that the state government should get share from the cess collected on coal by the Centre. He also urged Joshi to denotify non coal bearing areas and urged him to direct MCL to take up comprehensive development in notified areas.
“Quick implementation of the decisions of the RPDAC by the MCL authorities was stressed in the meeting. The Union minister agreed to the need for comprehensive development of the coal mining areas with a joint concerted effort. Law and Order and R&R issues of Coal mining areas were also discussed in the meeting,” a notification from the Chief Minister’s Office said.
Odisha steel & mines minister Prafulla Kumar Mallik, union coal secretary, state chief secretary Asit Tripathy along with several other senior officials of the central and state government were present in the meeting.
