State does not have mechanism to check ore grades and quantity; DMG suffers `22 crore loss on account of non-collection of various fees PANJIM: The repeated claims of environmentalists of the State government lacking a proper mechanism to check the grade of iron ore and the quantity declared by the lease owner for recovery of royalty, has been authenticated by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) that has slammed the State for accepting the quantity and grade declared by the lessees without verification. CAG has exposed the fact that the Directorate of Mines and Geology (DMG) has no mechanism for an independent check over grade of the ore. Similarly, the department lacks a system to monitor quantity of even minor minerals, including sand. DMG has informed CAG that a proposal for checking grade of ore through independent analytical laboratory has been moved to the government. The department has suffered a revenue loss of over Rs 22 crore on account of non-collection of royalty, renewal of lease registration fees, interest, surface rent, dead rent, penalty etc. “As per the MMDR Act, 1957, royalty on iron ore lumps or fines or concentrates are to be recovered based on iron content. As per the Act, the person authorized by the State government may enter and inspect any mine, survey and take measurement, weigh or measure the stock of minerals lying at any mine,” the report states. “We observed that the assay report (testing of ore to be determined it ingredients and quantity) or third party test reports of the samples were neither insisted by the department nor furnished by the exporter or producer of ore,” it notes. CAG said that in the entire process of quantity and iron content declared by the dealers, which is the base of levy of royalty was not independently verified by the department. The report pointed out that during renewal of lease deeds to the mining firms the stamp duty was erroneously worked causing a loss of Rs 4.50 crore. Also, the department did not collect revenue totaling Rs 17.73 crore on account of royalty, interest, surface rent, dead rent and penalty from mining lease holders.