There are round 185 Mini Steel plants in the state which are struggling for their survival in this global recession, said Ashok Surana President Chhattisgarh Mini Steel plant Association while addressing a press conference on Tuesday.
He demanded special relief packaged from the state government and also rationalization of electricity rates. Surana said cost of Iron ore has increased in past 9 months the availability of ore is also not enough. Further the scrap is also not available for the mini steel plants in the state. Due to these factors mini steel plants have to purchase scrap at higher rates and sell the finished product bearing loss due to recession in the global arena.
Surana further said, these trades are totally depends on Chhattisgarh Electricity Board for power supply and because of permanent demand charge scheme of the electricity board they are neither able to run the plants efficiently nor could they shut down them. According to the scheme, Surana said, Electricity Board Charges Rs 360 for every KVA and if any trader thinks of closing his 300 KVA plant then he will have to pay Rs 12 lakh. Further if he runs the plant then he will have to pay about Rs 55 to 60 lakh as electricity bill every month. Surana was of view that if government does not take any decision in this regards to improve the situation, it would take away the earnings of at least 50,000 people working in these plants.