PANJIM, OCT 20
Thanks to the Centre’s decision to charge royalty on ad valorem basis, the state has been able to collect Rs 375 cr in the form of royalty on mines for the first two quarters of the current financial year.
Moreover, the Mining Department expects to achieve its projected target revenue of Rs 500 crore through royalty on ore for 2010-11.
Director of Mining Arvind Lolienkar told Herald that streamlining of royalty collection is paying off for the department which has surpassed the figure of Rs 292 crore collections for last financial year, of which the department managed to earn Rs 286 crore just from iron ore export.
“The royalty is now strictly collected ad valorem which is almost twelve times more than the per tonnage royalty enforced earlier,” he said.
Lolienkar said that for last fiscal till August 13, 2009, the duty of just Rs 8 per tonne was charged on the exports, which has touched 100-plus mark after turning it into ad valorem. The duty will vary depending on the international pricing.
The department has tightened its royalty collection methodology by executing several checks to ensure that leakage is zero. The exporters are asked to deposit the royalty by 10th day of every month and they have to file returns by 15th day of every month.
The director explained that the royalty has to be deposited in two treasuries of State Bank of India, one each in Panjim and Margao.
“We have done away with multi-treasury facilities which were creating complications,” he said.
The treasury challan is also now divided into four parts. The original remains with the payer, duplicate to be enclosed with the treasury receipt, triplicate to be submitted along with treasury challan to department and the forth one along with the returns.
Goa has exported 15 MT ore till September 15, this year as against total 42 MT ore exported last financial year.
Chief Minister Digamber Kamat’s recent announcement that ships carrying ore consignment cannot leave the port without No Objection Certificate (NOC) of the department is also working out well for revenue collection.
Sources stated that the ships leaving Panjim minor port are taking the NOCs while those using Mormugao Port Trust (MPT) are yet to follow the procedure.
