Following an order of the Centre, the State Government has asked all its departments and the district Collectors not to transfer funds of the District Mineral Foundations (DMFs) to any State-level entity or the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund (CMRF).
Development Commissioner Pradeep Kumar Jena has recently written a letter to all Additional Chief Secretaries, Principal Secretaries, Secretaries, Heads of Departments and Collectors in this regard.
As per the order of the Union Ministry of Mines, “No fund shall be transferred in any manner from the District Mineral Foundations to the State Exchequer or State level fund (by whatever name called) or Chief Minister’s Relief Fund or any other funds or schemes.”
Similarly, no sanction or approval of any expenditure out of fund of the DMF will be done at the State level by the State Government or any State-level agency, it says.
The directions are to be followed scrupulously; and only such projects sanctioned by the DMF Trust Boards for the respective District are to be implemented in accordance with the provisions of Odisha District Mineral Foundations Rules, 2015 and guidelines of Pradhan Mantri Khanij Kshetra Kalyan Yojana (PMKKKY) by the line departments/agencies functioning under their administrative control.
However, Jena said the district-specific project proposals may be recommended by the administrative departments under the permissible activities to the DMF Trust Board for sanction and implementation through the field formations of the departments/ agencies functioning under their administrative control.
Till January this year, Odisha collected Rs 16,952.64 crore under DMF, around 28.7% of the total DMF funds collected in the country. The State spent Rs 8,515.71 crore till January.
Notably, the State Government has been utilising the DMF for various activities like construction of a new international hockey stadium in Rourkela, procurement of patrolling vans for the Rourkela police, the Jharsuguda airport, etc. Now, such spending would no longer be allowed, sources said.