A delegation of Indian Steel Association (ISA) on Friday met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and requested his intervention to overcome challenges faced by steel industries in the State.
The delegation comprised CMD of Bhushan Power and Steel ltd Sanjay Singhal, Chairman of Jindal Steel and Power ltd (JSPl) Naveen Jindal, Director of Essar Steel JB Mehra, Secretary General of ISA Dr Sanak Mishra, Resident Director Jindal Stainless ltd Rajdeep Mohanty and senior functionaries of other member companies.
Steel sector in Odisha has attracted huge investment and created employment for over 2 lakh people in the State. In 2014-15, the industry has contributed about Rs13,000 to the Government exchequers. Besides, more than Rs 300 crore has been spent on peripheral development activities in the year.
The delegates pointed out that the State’s steel sector is facing high input cost of raw material, logistics constraints, high utility charges such as water charges and contribution towards water conservation fund and problems in raw material security for end use plants. Need of a strong policy framework to promote eco-friendly and mineral conservation projects like beneficiation and pelletisation plants as well as level playing field for steel sector in upcoming non-coal mining auctions were also discussed threadbare.
“We requested for immediate intervention of the Chief Minister to address the issues in the interest of the State and its inclusive growth,” said Indian Steel Association secretary general Dr Sanak Mishra.
The delegation requested the Chief Minister to align royalty as per actual grade and size of iron ore as mandated in MMDR Act and followed by all other States, identify and strengthen mineral logistics corridors by improving road conditions, adding critical infrastructures and eliminating constraints like day time embargo.
The ISA representatives urged the Government intervention for completion of critical railway projects, fast tracking of National Waterway projects and incentivising eco-friendly long distance slurry pipeline projects. They also appealed the State Government to reserve mega non-coal blocks for existing State based end use plants as per Mineral Auction Rules 2015 and give them preference in auction process.
To ensure level playing field amongst the players who have invested thousands of crores in the State and others, lower rate of royalty may be recommended to cater for industries without existing captive mineral concessions and transparent price mechanism for iron ore lumps and fines should be adopted. Preference should be given to existing value added end use plants over merchant mining in evaluation process for upcoming non-coal mining action.