Bhubaneswar: The Central government has not taken any amount from coal royalty to Odisha, said Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Coal and Mines Pralhad Joshi on Monday.
In a written reply to a question from BJD MP Sasmit Patra in Rajya Sabha, Joshi said mining companies directly pay the coal royalty to the states and the Centre takes no share in the royalty.
Patra had asked how much royalty was collected from coal mines in Odisha annually since 2018 and how much was paid to the state.
However, the Union Minister said the Odisha government has been paid Rs 10,137.65 crore towards coal royalty in 5 years between 2017-18 and 2021-22. Giving the annual figures, he said the royalty of Rs 1,754.53 crore was paid in 2017-18, Rs 2,024.15 crore in 2018-19, Rs 2,139.45 crore in 2019-20, Rs 1,519.31 crore in 2020-21 and Rs 2,700.21 crore in 2021-22 to Odisha.
