Though the Centre took full management of the district mineral foundations (DMFs) from the states with impact from July final yr, primarily to rein in diversion of funds, the utilisation of the funds has not improved a lot.
The DMF, created in 2015 with authorized sanction, is supposed for the welfare of mining-affected folks.
Till March 2021, a complete of Rs 31,212 crore, or simply round half of the Rs 61,868 crore collected below the DMF since its inception, has been spent on the welfare of these affected by mining actions, together with the tribal inhabitants.
This compares with 48.5% spent of the overall Rs 50,500 crore assortment until July 15, 2021.
The Centre took full management of the DMF funds via an order issued on July 12 final yr.
The Union mines ministry had then mentioned the transfer was necessitated as “there are instances where a part of the funds of the DMF are being transferred to the treasury/consolidated fund of the state or state-level funds (by whatever name called) or Chief Minister’s Relief Fund or other funds or schemes”, thereby “defeating the very purpose” of the creation of the DMF.
The Centre’s unhappiness with the way in which the states have been utilizing the DMF kitty got here to the fore in March 2020, as finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman instructed, as a part of the primary tranche of the Atmanirbhar package deal: “We will request the state governments to utilise the funds which are available at the DMF at the district level so that medical testing, medical screening and also providing of health attention will not suffer.”
As on April 28, states have used Rs 1,460 crore to fight Covid-19 out of the fund.
According to the MMDR Rules, 2015, “every holder of a mining lease or a prospecting licence-cum-mining lease shall, in addition to the royalty, pay to the DMF of the district in which mining operations are carried on, an amount at the rate of 10% of the royalty in respect of mining leases or prospecting licence-cum-mining lease granted on or after January 12, 2015, and 30% of the royalty in respect of mining leases granted before January 12, 2015”.
The Act mandates that state governments should set up DMFs in all districts affected by mining-related operations. It additionally mentioned state governments should set up DMFs in all districts affected by mining-related operations.
The DMF fund collections have been the best in mineral-rich Odisha (Rs 17,907 crore), adopted by Chhattisgarh (Rs 8,943 crore), Jharkhand (Rs 8,301 crore), Rajasthan (Rs 6,112 crore) and Madhya Pradesh (Rs 4,870 crore).
Source: www.financialexpress.com”