Bhubaneswar: Water tax of Rs 2,754 crore is waiting to be collected from several industries, mines and other establishments, even as the state government continues to crib about poor revenue collection.

Apart from supply for irrigation purposes, the government supplies water to industries and mines from rivers and reservoirs.

Till last October, Sewa Paper Mill at Jeypore in Koraput district owed the highest revenue of Rs 426.59 crore. Ballarpur Industries at Choudwar in Cuttack district followed Sewa at Rs 245.30 crore.

Interestingly, South Eastern Railway's Jharsuguda division has an outstanding of Rs 202.94 crore. Public sector major Nalco's aluminium refinery at Damanjodi in Koraput district has not paid the government Rs 141.62 crore.

The other major defaulters include Tata Steel's Joda mines (Rs 89.97 crore), Bhusan Power and Steels (Rs 37.21 crore), Tata Refractories (Rs 37.53 crore) and Arati Steel (Rs 38.03 crore).

However, an official said that the major chunk of the arrears running into Rs 2,293.45 crore could not be realised because of court cases. Besides, Rs 340.29 crore is pending against 29 industries that have been closed down.

Water activist Ranjan Panda alleged that the government was lenient towards the big industries. "The government is helping them to flout rules and escape with it, while it is strict with farmers who have meagre dues", he said.

The government, however, said that steps had been taken against defaulting industries.

"A penal two per cent compound interest per month has been charged against them," an official said.

However, the good news is that Rs 147.28 crore have been recovered from Mahanadi Coalfields Limited in 2016-17 and steps have been initiated to realise dues from Nalco.