Salt manufacturers seek uniform ground rent for Central government lands

They are higher than the rent charged by the State government, they say

Salt manufacturers have urged the Central government to levy uniform rent and assignment fee for the lands they have taken on lease. The levy was higher than what was being charged by the Tamil Nadu government for salt pans owned by it, they said.

With a marked dip in salt production in the State and others States too, the Centre convened a meeting of manufacturers recently and asked them to submit details of problems faced by the industry.

“The lease rent per acre per annum on State government lands is ₹135 whereas those working on Central government lands have to pay ₹2,120 per acre a year, which is extremely steep. This was increased in 2013 and manufacturers were asked to pay with retrospective effect. There cannot be two rates for the same commodity,” said K. Mariappan, convenor, South India Salt Manufacturers’ Joint Action Committee.

Another problematic issue was the refusal by the Centre to renew lease for their lands. “This has caused undue hardship to small and medium land holders. The State government has been renewing leases and has also written to the Centre asking it to renew leases. There are private companies that have been holding salt lands for over 50 years. The Centre also holds perpetual lease to lands it has taken from the Vedaranyeswarar temple in Vedaranyam, which is unfair to other salt pan holders,” said a salt pan lease holder.

An industry expert pointed out that lands that had been taken over by the Centre remained without any takers. “They cannot lease out salt lands to people who want to use it for other purposes and the rates quoted were quite high. People cannot get returns from salt with such investments, which is why many have not even paid their due amount,” he said.

If this situation continued, Tamil Nadu, which had been selling salt to other States would become dependent. Already, the State had been forced to procure salt from Gujarat, he said and added that the Centre must take necessary steps to prevent such a situation.