This will leave around Rs 1,000 crore for the government’s other plans, including the Rs 400 crore on loan waiver subsidy. However, even these Rs 1,200 crore funds would be raised provided the international price of ore goes up, and does not nose dive as is the current trend.
Government through e-auction of 5 million tons of ore has so far managed to earn Rs 620 crore. A sudden deep fall in market prices has forced the State government to put on hold the e-auction process.
Supreme Court in its April 21 judgement, while making State government the treasurer of the sale value of 15 million tons of e-auctioned ore, had directed the government to provide average cost of excavation of iron ore to the mining lessees, which at the current rate is Rs 380 (screened material) per tonne of iron ore. Another Rs 480 crore per ton will be the cost of processing of material, if required.
Further, government will have to pay 50 per cent of the wages and dearness allowance to the workers on the muster rolls of the mining companies who have not been paid their wages during the period of suspension of mining operations. As per statistics, nearly 1500 workers were scheduled to be laid off. A rough calculation, considering that one worker was paid Rs 15,000 per month, the total wages works out to around Rs 54 crore (Rs 15,000 x 1500 x 24 months = Rs 54 crore). Government will have to pay off Rs 27 crore — half the amount to the workers.
Mining companies have been claiming that though they had proposed laying-off of workers, presently half the salary amount is been paid to them. The matter pertaining to laying-off is pending before Supreme Court after the trade union challenged it.
Government will also have to settle the pending storage charges issue of Mormugao Port Trust (MPT) by paying of 50 percent of the charges, which comes to around Rs 7.5 crore.
Out of the balance, 10 percent will be appropriated towards the Goan Iron Ore Permanent Fund (Rs 120 crore) and the remaining amount will be appropriated by the State as the owner of the ore. BJP government for past two years has been spending approximately Rs 90 crore annually on the doles provided to the truck owners and unemployed.
The entire exercise looks as an outgo of revenue generated from e-auction for the government.
