Odisha: Naveen Urges Odisha BJP MPs To Oppose MMDR Law

In a letter to the BJP MPs, Mr Patnaik described the passage of the MMDR Amendment Bill in the Lok Sabha on August 13 as a “black day for Odisha” and questioned the manner in which the legislation was passed, alleging that it was cleared after less than 10 minutes of discussion despite its far-reaching implications for the state.

Mr Patnaik claimed that Odisha, which accounts for nearly 44 per cent of India’s mineral wealth, could suffer an annual revenue loss of more than Rs 12,000 crore under the amended law. He argued that the larger issue was the alleged loss of control over the state’s mineral resources and mineral-bearing lands.

“For decades, Odisha has contributed its mineral wealth to the building of India’s steel, power, mining and infrastructure sectors,” Mr Patnaik said, arguing that the state’s people had borne the costs of mining in the form of pollution, displacement, environmental degradation and other hardships.

He appealed to the BJP MPs to reconsider their position and “listen to your conscience”, saying they had been elected to Parliament to protect the interests of Odisha. He also invoked the interests of the state’s youth and future generations, urging the MPs to stand up for Odisha irrespective of party considerations.

Responding to Mr Patnaik’s letter, former Union minister and Sambalpur MP Dharmendra Pradhan rejected the former chief minister’s allegations, asserting that the amended legislation would protect Odisha’s revenues while promoting industrial and economic growth.

In his reply Mr Pradhan said the contention that Odisha would lose its revenue share was “factually incorrect”. He claimed that around 90 per cent of the total mining-sector revenues would continue to accrue directly to state treasuries under the amended framework.

Mr Pradhan further claimed that Odisha would retain auction premiums, royalties and collections under the District Mineral Foundation (DMF) framework.

Seeking to put the revenue issue in perspective, the BJP leader credited the Narendra Modi government’s 2015 MMDR reforms with substantially increasing Odisha’s mining revenue. He said the state’s annual mining revenue, which was around Rs 5,000 crore before 2014, had risen to nearly Rs 50,000 crore following mandatory and transparent e-auctions and an increase in ad-valorem royalty from 10 per cent to 15 per cent.

Mr Pradhan also argued that imposing multiple levies on mineral-bearing land would have hurt Odisha’s industrial ecosystem, particularly in mineral-rich districts such as Keonjhar, Sundargarh, Jharsuguda, Angul and Jajpur.

Such levies, he said, could have forced mining and manufacturing units to shut down and increased the cost of inputs for steel, cement, power and coal, ultimately putting an additional burden on consumers.

The Union minister also highlighted the DMF mechanism, saying more than Rs 37,000 crore had been generated for local development in Odisha’s mining districts since its establishment by the Centre in 2015. The funds, he said, were meant for projects relating to drinking water, healthcare, education and rural roads.

Mr Pradhan, however, turned the spotlight on the previous BJD government, citing alleged irregularities in the utilisation of DMF funds. Referring to CAG audit findings, he alleged that Rs 983 crore had been spent in 976 non-mining-affected villages, while 584 directly affected villages received no project funding. He also alleged that 1,730 projects were executed by bypassing Gram Sabhas.

The BJP leader further attacked the previous BJD government over the Orissa Rural Infrastructure and Socio-Economic Development (ORISED) Act, 2004. He alleged that after the Odisha High Court struck down the legislation in 2005, the state government pursued the matter in the Supreme Court for 18 years without bringing validation legislation in the Assembly to rectify the legal deficiencies.