The Hindu Business Line : Forum meeting PM on captive mines to VSP

Visakhapatnam, Jan. 1 The Forum for Better Visakha is planning to submit a memorandum to the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, when he visits the city on Wednesday and Thursday to inaugurate the Indian Science Congress, urging him to take personal initiative and see to it that the Visakhapatnam steel plant gets captive iron ore mines.

At a press meet here on Tuesday, Mr E.A.S. Sarma, a former IAS official and convener of the forum, said that so many private steel companies such as Brahmani Steels had captive iron ore mines but the claim of the public sector Visakhapatnam steel plant was being ignored by the Union Government.

He said, “The steel plant here should be granted captive mines immediately, keeping in view its long-term growth and to decrease the cost of production and keep it competitive in the market. The claim of the VSP can no longer be ignored and we want to impress on the Prime Minister the necessity of his intervention in the vital matter.”

Mr Sarma said the memorandum would also include a demand to increase the capacity of the NTPC Simhadri thermal plant from 2000 MW to 3,000 MW and to allocate the entire power to the State only. “This is necessary for speeding up the industrial growth of Visakhapatnam and the State,” he said.

Land issue

He also urged the State Government and the Union Government to take back the land allotted to the Hindujas for setting up a power plant here in the nineties and allot it to the NTPC for expanding the Simhadri plant. “The land is lying unutilised and it should be taken back,” he said.

Supply of natural gas found by Reliance group in the Krishna-Godavari basin to the State, the pricing pattern and related issues would also find a place in the memorandum. The State should be given priority in all these matters, he pleaded.

The need for setting up an IIT in the region and other development issues would figure in the petition, he added.

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