Comments
Pointing to the remarks of the CAG on undervaluation of bauxite ore reserves in Visakhapatnam, the CPM has urged the State Government to revoke the MoUs signed with Jindal South West Aluminium Ltd and Anrak Aluminium Ltd by the previous Congress Government.
CPI (M) State Secretariat Member Ch Narsinga Rao and District Secretary K Loknadham told reporters here on Monday that according to estimates made by official agencies in the past, Araku, Sapparla and Jerella blocks in the district contained 550 million tonnes of bauxite. The value of reserves, according to unofficial estimates, will be around ₹1 lakh crore.
They said that when YS Rajasekhara Reddy was the Chief Minister, the value was pegged at ₹11,500 crore after which agreements were signed with Jindal and Anrak. According to the CAG, the officials showed the value at just ₹258 crore, they stated.
Narasinga Rao said in all the projects taken up under PPP mode including the Gangavaram Port, government equity was fixed at 11 per cent. However, for the aluminium plants, the equity had been reduced to 1.5 per cent and profit ratio restricted to 1.5 times. He said all the project proponents setting up aluminium plants, generally get profits up to 10 times of their investment and alleged that the underestimate of value and restriction on profit sharing and equity had been done to benefit the proponents.
Stating that the agreements were signed under the old Tribal Advisory Committee (TAC) and public hearings were not held in the project affected areas, he sought signing of fresh agreements only after obtaining consent from the project-affected people and constitution of TAC, and demanded division of the AP Mineral Development Corporation into two as required after bifurcation of the State.
He said the previous Congress Government had violated all norms in signing the agreements and therefore it was in the fitness of things, especially after the CAG indictment, that the present Government should revoke the deals and sign fresh ones after proper evaluation of the reserves and following of proper procedures.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.