The Hindu Business Line : KIOCL employees keeping their fingers crossed

WHAT we did yesterday, shaped today. What we do today, shapes tomorrow," says a board at Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Ltd's (KIOCL) pellet plant at New Mangalore. But the employees at KIOCL's pellet plant and at the mining site at Kudremukh are not sure about their tomorrow.

On the last day of last year, when this correspondent visited the pellet plant, the mood was not so encouraging among the employees. They were worried about their colleagues at Kudremukh who will be left with no work from January 1.

The Supreme Court has ordered KIOCL to close mining operations at Kudremukh by December 31.

Sources in the company told Business Line that the company has adhered to the directives of the Supreme Court and closed all mining and other related operations at Kudremukh in Chikmagalur district before December 30 itself.

They also said that the company would continue operations at the Mangalore pellet plant, as the present stock of iron ore fines could be utilised for another 25 days for manufacturing pellets.

The company is now left with 2.96 lakh tonnes of iron ore at the plant for manufacturing pellets.

It is sourcing iron ore lumps from National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) to manufacture pellets.

The company has an agreement with NMDC to supply around three lakh tonnes of iron ore lumps every month till March 2006.

Since iron ore received from places other than Kudremukh needs further grinding, the company is installing a grinding facility near the Mangalore pellet plant.

Earlier, iron ore slurry was transported through a 67-km-long mechanised conveyor pipeline system from Kudremukh mines.

Apart from a pellet plant at New Mangalore, the company also has a captive berth for loading iron ore pellets to ships.

On Saturday, loading of iron ore pellets was on at the berth. The mechanised ore handling facility of KIOCL can load around 4,500 tonnes of the cargo to a ship in an hour.

Staff plan stir

Meanwhile, the employees of KIOCL - under the banner of the Kudremukh Employees' Federation - will stage a `rasta roko' on the national highway near the pellet plant in Mangalore urging the Government to save the company.

The Federation notice says that they would be staging a protest march on the national highway urging the Government to save the company, which is on the verge of closure.

The federation is a forum of four unions of the company - Kudremukh Employees' Union, Kudremukh Shramik Sanghatan, Kudremukh Mazdoor Sangha, and Officers' Association of KIOCL.

The company employs some 1,700 people - 1,300 in Kudremukh and nearly 400 at Mangalore pellet plant.