Birbhum stone revenue reached a reported record of ₹3.44 crore in a single day, according to figures shared by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, putting the spotlight on how the state collects dues from stone sales and transport in one of its major quarrying districts.
The chief minister said in a social media post on Monday that the revenue was collected on Sunday from stone sales and transportation in Birbhum. She described the one-day collection as higher than the total revenue collected from the district in October last year, according to a report by Bartaman Patrika.
The figures relate to the government’s DCR system, under which transit and toll receipts are issued for the movement of stone, stone chips, boulders and sand from quarries and mining areas. These receipts form part of the mechanism used to collect revenue when construction materials are transported.
The chief minister also said that the state collected ₹32.17 crore from stone during the first 11 days of October this year. If the current pace continues, she expressed the expectation that monthly revenue from stone quarries could exceed the target of ₹100 crore.
The announcement places Birbhum’s quarrying economy within a wider administrative question: how effectively the state is recording the extraction, sale and movement of construction materials. The report said the district has several stone quarries, but revenue collection from the sector had previously been comparatively low. The chief minister criticised the earlier Trinamool Congress government over that gap.
Minister Shuvendu Adhikari said in a separate social media post that the revenue performance reflected the government’s commitment to transparent administration and discipline in collection. He attributed the result to the active role of the Birbhum district administration and the land department in preventing revenue evasion.
The DCR receipt system is significant because stone and related materials typically move across administrative boundaries before reaching construction sites, processing units or markets. A transport-linked collection system gives the authorities a point at which to record movement and recover dues. The figures released by the chief minister indicate that the administration is treating this documentation and collection process as a central measure of its performance in the district.
However, the information available in the report does not provide a detailed breakdown of the ₹3.44 crore collection by quarry, material, number of consignments or rate of duty. It also does not specify the October revenue figure from the previous year, against which the one-day collection was compared. The report does not include an independent statement from quarry operators, transporters or local residents on how the revised collection system is operating on the ground.
For now, the state government’s stated next milestone is to maintain the collection trend and cross the monthly revenue target of ₹100 crore from stone quarries. The figures and administrative claims were presented by the chief minister and the minister through social media posts, as reported by Bartaman Patrika.
