By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR: The BJP won the elections in Odisha in April 2024. In August 2024, the Supreme Court had ruled that states were allowed to collect the previous dues from 2005, but the court had clearly said that this amount would be collected in 12 annual installments from April 1, 2026.
However, before the installment collection process was to begin in April 2026, the Mines and Minerals Amendment Act, 2026, was passed in Parliament in August 2026. Section 9D of this new law restricted the states’ power to levy such additional taxes and declared all the previous dues that had not been collected legally null and void. As a result, the over Rs 1 lakh crore dues that Odisha had hoped to collect were cancelled even before any installment was collected.
The entire country pays taxes, so that two Gujaratis can sell the country and two more Gujaratis can buy it. BJP has looted Odisha’s fair mining royalty claim. As a result, Odisha will now lose Rs 1 lakh crore and will suffer another Rs 20,000 crore loss every year.
