Shantaram Naik to meet agitated mine/barge owners tomorrow

Panaji, Mar 2 (UNI) Rajya Sabha member Shantaram Naik (Cong) would meet agitated iron ore exporters and barge owners here tomorrow in a bid to redress their grievances in the wake of the Rs 300 per tonne export duty on iron ore exports proposed to be levied in the new budget.

Mr Naik said he had convened a meeting of all the iron ore miners and exporters at the office of the Goa Mineral Ore Exporters Association which had demanded a roll back of the proposed duty.

He said he would analyse their grievances and raise the issue in parliament during debate on the finance bill besides bringing them to the notice of the Finance Minister P Chidambaram.

It might be recalled that the iron ore industry opposed the proposed levy saying it would force closure of the Forex earning industry for good.

Leaders of the industry also decided to call on the Finance Minister seeking a roll back of the proposal.

The exporters said the industry, which is the second largest earner of Foreign exchange after tourism in Goa, would be forced to close down if the burden is imposed, resulting in unemployment of thousands of families depending on mining industry.

The iron ore producers claim Rs 1,000 crore loss if the levy is imposed on exports. Goa exports 36.2 million tonnes of the ore, largely low-grade variety, annually and 26 million tonnes of this is from Goa mines alone.

This accounts for about 80 per cent of the traffic of the Mormugao port. The duty would thus affect barge owners also with paucity of exports due to imposition of the levy.

The Hoda committee report, based on which the union Finance Minister proposed the duty, actually suggested levy on export of high-grade iron ore lumps with more than 65 per cent iron content, but not on low grade ore exports, the industry claimed.

UNI