Rs 20 cr tax collected from mine owners in 15 days!

In an attempt to bring Bellary Reddy brothers to their knees, Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa had transferred three key officials after they openly demanded change in leadership in the State over flood relief implementation issue.

In a dramatic development, the government had transferred the Bellary Deputy Commissioner, the Superintendent of Police and the Divisional Forest Officer. Deputy Divisional Forest Officer Biswajith Mishra, who was transferred to the district, started cracking the whip straight away and sent out a series of instructions to the staff to implement the rules strictly, leading to the whopping collections.

The authorities have collected Rs 20 crore in just 15 days. Though the tax was introduced in August 2008 to mop up additional funds, the authorities had collected just Rs 20 crore in about 13 months.

The Government had proposed 12 per cent tax on the value of the ore sold. However, some mine owners had challenged it in the High Court and the court had halved the amount in its interim order.

After the change , the movement of ore-laden trucks had dropped by almost 50 per cent. Despite this, the government mopped up Rs 20 crore in about two weeks.

Earlier, hundreds of trucks were carrying ore to ports but the FDT collection was just Rs 20 crore.