Odisha Tops In District Mineral Fund Collection In Country

Bhubaneswar: Odisha has emerged as the leading state in the country in terms of collection and expenditure of District Mineral Fund (DMF) since its inception in 2015.

Revealing this in a written reply in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, Union Minster of Coal and Mines Pralhad Joshi said Odisha collected highest amount of Rs 11,984 crore from DMF during the period and spent Rs 5,364 crore by January this year.

Jharkhand with a collection of Rs 6,533.04 crore and Chhattisgarh with Rs 6329.78 crore were the next highest grosser of the DMF revenue, the TOI quoted the minister.

In terms of rate of expenditure, Chhattisgarh has topped with 69.04% (Rs 4370 crore) followed by Tamil Nadu with 54% (Rs 413.29 crore), while Odisha has used 44.76% of the fund against national average of 45.1%, Joshi said.

Seven districts of Odisha including Sundargarh, Jharsuguda, Keonjhar, Koraput, Rayagada, Jajpur and Angul have contributed 90% of the state’s DMF.

As per the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulations) Amendment Act, 2015, the companies operating in the mining operation contribute 30% of the royalty amount for the lease to the DMF. The fund is used in various welfare measures in education and health sectors in the mining areas.