Odisha favours auction-based system for allocation of mineral resources, including coal, the Chief Minister, Naveen Patnaik, said on Thursday.
“Our Government has been asking for the auction-based system for the last few years. While the Centre has done it (auction) for coal recently, it is yet to do it for other minerals,” he told reporters here.
Patnaik’s statement on the coal issue came a day after Union Coal Minister, Sripakash Jaiswal, claimed that the bidding process for coal block allocation could not be implemented due to strong opposition from five coal-rich states, including Odisha.
The other States mentioned by him were Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and West Bengal.
Coal is a subject on which the Centre has complete authority, Patnaik said adding his Government had always stood for value-addition within Odisha, which meant more jobs for local people and more revenue for development programmes of the State Government.
Criticising the Centre’s alleged ‘soft attitude’ towards mine owners, Patnaik said he had been demanding imposition of Mineral Resource Rent Tax on the ‘super normal’ profits made by private iron ore mines.
“This has been rejected by the Centre on extremely flimsy ground. This itself shows the attitude of the Central Government,” he added.