Loss of Rs 46.41 cr from coal export: CAG

A  Correspondent

Shillong,  April 22: The report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India for the year ending March 31, 2017 has revealed that under reporting of coal exported to Bangladesh resulted in short realisation of revenue to the tune of Rs 46.41 crore.

The report observed that there was no system in place in the mining department to cross verify and reconcile the figures/data of the mining check gates with the records of the Land Custom Stations (LCS).

“It, thereby led to under reporting of export of 5.50 metric ton of coal to Bangladesh by the mining check gates. This resulted in short realisation of royalty amounting to Rs 37.13 crore, on which, penalty of Rs 9.28 crore was additionally leviable from the exporters,” the CAG report said.

In Meghalaya, royalty on coal was Rs 675 per metric ton and further, a penalty at 25 percent of the royalty amount was additionally leviable for non-payment of royalty.

The CAG report observed that from the records pertaining to export of minerals to Bangladesh between April 2014 to March 2016, the Borsora LCS, recorded export of 6.29 lakh metric ton. Cross verification with the records of Directorate of Mineral Resources (DMR) revealed that during the same period, 2.58 lakh metric ton of coal was exported to Bangladesh through the mining check gate located at Borsora.

Meanwhile, in the Divisional Mining Office, Williamnagar, it was observed that 0.82 lakh metric ton of coal was exported to Bangladesh through three mining check gates between April 2014 and May 2015. No coal export was recorded thereafter till March 2016.

The CAG report stated that cross-check of records of three LCS check gates at the same location revealed that during the period from April 2014 to March 2016, 2.61 lakh metric ton of coal was exported to Bangladesh.

The CAG has recommended to the State Government to establish a mechanism to obtain information periodically from Customs Department so that it may act as an effective internal control to keep instances of under-reporting in check.

The case was reported to the Mining and Geology department between August 2016 and May 2017 and reminded in July 2017 and January 2018 but no reply has been received till February this year.

Further, the CAG report  for the year ending March 31, 2017 has revealed that the Mining and Geology department failed to realise royalty amounting to Rs 51.78 crore on 7.67 lakh metric ton of assessed extracted coal.