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N. Ramakrishnan

CHENNAI, April 18

CEMENT companies in Tamil Nadu have been slapped with notices stating that there has been a "short payment" of royalty on limestone that the companies have to pay the Government and asking them to pay the sums immediately.

According to reliable sources, the amount ranges from Rs 10 crore to Rs 20 crore for each company. In notices sent to the companies recently, the Department of Geology and Mining said that a review of the cement production accounts over the last five years showed that there was a short payment.

This default on the part of the company, the Department said, attracted penal provision.

The cement companies enter into lease agreements with the Collectors of the districts in which their mines are located for mining limestone for a specified period of time. The companies have to pay royalty for mining the limestone which is used in cement production.

The royalty is revised every three years. It is now Rs 40 per tonne of limestone mined, according to sources.

In its notice, the Department has asked the companies to settle the short payment of the royalty amount and also account for the total quantity of limestone purchased from other sources and consumed in the factory since the royalty payable was for the total quantity of limestone consumed.

Individual cement companies plan to seek legal redress against the notice.

Industry sources say that they have no idea on what basis the Department has arrived at the short payment as specified by it in the notices.

They say that there is no clear idea of how much limestone goes into producing a tonne of cement.

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