Bhubaneswar: Stepping up its protest against the MMDR Amendment Act, Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Thursday announced its plan to stage a mass demonstration near the Odisha Assembly building in Bhubaneswar on September 28.
Addressing a press meet in Bhubaneswar, senior BJD leader and former minister Debi Prasad Mishra said that the opposition party has been opposing the legislation from the beginning. The party has decided to organise a mass protest at the Lower PMG in Bhubaneswar seeking withdrawal of the MMDR Amendment Act, he said.
BJD supremo and Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Odisha Assembly Naveen Patnaik is scheduled to lead the protest, Mishra said.
Terming the changes in the mining law as an attack on the federal stricture of the country, the BJD leader said the Central government has taken away the rights of the states over mines and mineral-bearing lands through the MMDR Amendment Act.
Mishra claimed that Odisha, which possesses 44 per cent of the total mineral resources available in the country, will suffer the maximum loss due to this amended law.
Describing MMDR Amendment Act as a black law, another former minister Pratap Jena said the new measure has dealt a severe blow to the interests of the state. In 2004, the then BJD government had brought a law under which the state government could impose taxes and levies on mines and mineral-bearing lands, he said.
Jena said some mining companies challenged this law in the courts, following which the matter remained pending before the Supreme Court for a long period. On 25 July 2024, a nine-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court ruled that state governments could impose taxes and levies on mines and minerals.
This created an opportunity for Odisha to receive Rs one lakh crore towards arrears and Rs 12,000 crore annually as revenue from mining. However, due to the MMDR Amendment Act, this opportunity has now been lost, Jena claimed.