The Hindu Business Line : AP mulls separate mining zone

THE Andhra Pradesh Government is considering the creation of a separate mining zone in the State aimed at facilitate better prospecting and mining the large untapped potential of the sector.

The State Minister for Mines and Geology, Ms Sabitha Indra Reddy, said in a State that was already known for its mineral resources, the Government was in the process of commissioning surveys to assess the overall mineral wealth.

Although the State was doing well as far as tapping the mineral resources were concerned, a lot of work was required to increase the Government's revenue so that the funds thus raised could be used in other sectors.

"We will do everything to curb illicit mining and smuggling of minerals," she said interacting with the media after occupying her chambers at the Secretariat on Sunday.

Andhra Pradesh stood number two in both natural resources and generation of revenue form the mining sector. The Department of Mines and Geology had set it for itself a target for collecting an revenue of Rs 954 crore for the financial year 2004-05, which reflects a growth of about 25 per cent over 2003-2004.

Commercial taxes: The Commercial Taxes (CT) Department has fixed a revenue target of Rs 10,543 crore, up 15 per cent from last year and plans to step up efforts to boost revenue collections so that the money collected may be put to use.

The State Minister for Commercial Taxes, Mr. K. Ramakrishna, after occupying his official chambers at the State Secretariat here today, said that of the total State Government revenue of Rs 16,583 crore last year, about Rs 9,193 crore came from the Commercial Taxes department. "We know it is tough, but we are confident of achieving the target of Rs 10,543 crore. We seek cooperation from the officials in the department and the trading community to achieve these numbers."

Mr. Ramakrishna said, "We shall increase the revenue not by hiking the tax rate, but by getting more number of traders in the assessee net. The Rs 20-lakh slab under the `deemed to be assessed' category was being increased to Rs 40 lakh, taking the number of assessee traders from 2.88 lakhs to 3.12 lakhs this year. Only at random the assessments would be called for scrutiny. Our motive is not to harass traders but is aimed to ensure discipline."

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