From Our Special Correspondent
New Delhi: Former Union Minister of State and Congress MP from Shillong, Vincent H Pala, on Friday urged the Centre to wave two per cent excise duty levied on coal as a very special case.
Talking to journalists in Parliament during the discussion on the Union budget, Pala said that this concession was given to Meghalaya by the late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi as a goodwill gesture in view of its unique land tenure system.
Moreover, this two per cent excise duty on coal will also not generate much fund for the exchequer, he said.
“The imposition of excise duty of one per cent on coal, proposed in the budget, will push up cement prices. It will be adding to the cost of coal and increased coal price will have a huge negative impact on the cement industry,” Pala said, adding that Meghalaya has very few industries barring cement plants which utilize locally available coal.
The total coal deposits in the State are estimated at about 600 million tons and the largest coal deposit is located in Jaintia Hills where presently large scale extraction is being carried out.
The State has nine important coal deposits, out of which Bapung and Lakadong are the most important.
Most of the coal mines are controlled by private companies in the State.
Pala demanded that the country as a whole should not import coal and rather should depend on the available reserves within. At the same time there should be speedy movement of coal from the mines to the user end mainly factories and power plants, he said.
There should also be PPP mode in coal exploitation and use since it is a national property, he observed.
It was on March 6 that the Central Excise Department had seized 91 trucks from Meghalaya laden with coal worth nearly Rs 6 crore from two different locations in Assam for not paying the Central Excise Duty.
The Central Excise Department officials said that since coal was brought under the Central Excise Tax in 2011, all coal mine owners were expected to pay the applicable excise duty.
The Excise Department effected the seizure since the mine owners from the State were reluctant to pay the tax.