The Hindu Business Line : Call to allot captive mines to Vizag Steel

Visakhapatnam, Oct. 29 It is imperative that the Union Government take immediate steps to allocate captive iron ore mines to the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, as otherwise the future of the plant will be bleak, according to Mr M.K. Pandhe, President of the CITU.

He was speaking at the inaugural of a one-day seminar on ‘Raw material problem for the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant’ organised on Monday by the Steel Plant Employees’ Union affiliated to the CITU.

Describing the plant as “a great national asset in the public sector,” Mr Pandhe said it was the responsibility of the Union Government to provide assured raw material for the plant to realise its full potential.

Mineral policy

“Unfortunately, some neighbouring States such as Orissa prefer to export iron ore rather than provide mines to the VSP. The Union Government should, therefore, step in and formulate a national mineral policy to protect the national interests,” he said.

Calling for a total ban on iron ore exports from the country, he cited the example of China, which was importing ore and conserving its own mineral for future use. “Visakhapatnam Steel Plant is a shore-based plant, the only public sector steel plant without captive mines, and the Government should set it right,” he said and gave a call to all unions and political parties to take up the issue unitedly.

Mr Dhanraj, President of the Steel Plant Employees’ Union, and Mr N. Rama Rao, General Secretary, said that while all the other steel plants were spending less than Rs 500 per tonne of iron ore, the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant was spending more than Rs 2,000 per tonne due to the lack of captive iron ore mines.

Production cost

“The plant is incurring Rs 2,000 crore extra production cost per annum and with the doubling of capacity from 3 million tonnes to 6.3 mt, the burden would rise to Rs 4,000 crore roughly. The plant will be in no position to compete with others,” they said.

Mr P.K Mishra, Director (Operations), said that it the was wish of the management, workers and all others that the plant be granted captive iron ore mines.

“Unfortunately, we have drawn a blank so far though we have applied to the states of Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and others for lease of iron ore mines. Even the Andhra Pradesh Government has not deemed it fit to grant us mines,” he said.

There would be no problem for the current phase of expansion from 3 mt to 6.3 mt, as the NMDC had agreed to provide the ore, but subsequent phases of expansion would be difficult.

Mr Mishra, however, expressed reservations about total ban on iron ore exports sought by Mr Pandhe. “High-grade iron ore with ferrous content of above 60 per cent should be reserved for our use. The low-grades can be exported,” he said.

Mr Y. Manohar, Director (Personnel), Mr C.G. Patil, Director (Commercial), Mr A. Dakhsi, President of the Steel Workers’ Federation of India, and several others spoke on similar lines.

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