MARGAO: Congress MLA Reginaldo Lourenco suspects a scam in the government’s decision to cut cess on coal and has accused Chief Minister, Manohar Parrikar for distributing largesse to Karnataka industries with ulterior motives.
Addressing the media, Reginaldo said the cut in cess on coal from Rs 250 per ton to Rs 50 per ton will result into an annual loss of Rs 160 crore to the State exchequer. “This will benefit Karnataka’s steel plant and that too at a time when Parrikar and other BJP boys are crying wolf over the State facing an acute financial crisis,” he told the media on Saturday.
Saying that the Chief Minister is misguiding the media on the issue by claiming that Goa will earn Rs 100 crore from 17 million tons coal/coke, Reginaldo said the MPT website itself stated that the Port handles only 7.87 million tons of coal/coke and not 17 million as claimed by the CM. “At reduced cess of Rs 50 per ton, Goa’s annual revenue will be only Rs 40 crore, down from Rs 200 crore at Rs 250 per ton,’ he claimed.
More importantly, he said a single entity (Jindal) will benefit 95 per cent of the Rs 160 crore each year. “Inquiries have revealed that 95 per cent of this coal, which lands at the MPT is transported by trains to the steel unit at Bellary. The fact that just one company will benefit makes it scandalous.” he added.
