Orissa to firm up mining rights by month-end

Kolkata: The Orissa Government will firm up by the month-end its view on mining rights of the iron ore bearing Khandadhar, Jhumka Pahar and Pothurapos Pahar blocks, for which Posco, the Korean steel giant, and 226 others, have applied for prospecting licences.

“We will send our recommendation to the Union Government as soon as we have taken a view on the matter,” Mr Pradip Kumar Amat, Orissa Minister for Steel & Mines, said here on Wednesday.

“The hearing of all the applications is over and the scrutiny is in progress.” The three blocks together are estimated to have a total iron ore reserve of more than 200 million tonnes spread over an area of 1,056 hectares.

Of the total of 4,000 acres identified by Posco for setting up a 12-million tonne capacity steel plant, only 404 acres are private lands.

A majority of the owners of the private lands had given their consent to part with their holdings for the proposed steel plant; only a small minority was opposed to it, the Minister said, pointing out that negotiations were in progress.

An estimated 2,900 acres are forest land and balance government’s own lands. There are some unauthorised occupants on the Government lands. Along with private owners, they too would get compensation according to the new Government rules. “Our Government’s R&R policy is one of the best in the country,” he observed, while addressing members of the Indian Chamber of Commerce.

The land acquisition process for ArcelorMittal’s plant, as he pointed out, had been initiated. Also, recommendations had been made for some of the coal blocks for the proposed project. There was, however, no proposal from the company for iron ore blocks, he said.

So far, the Orissa Government, according to its Steel and Mines Minister, had signed 49 MoUs for setting up steel plants in the State having a total capacity of 75.66 million tonnes, entailing a total investment of Rs 2,00,000 crore. Twenty-eight of them had started partial production, with a total investment of Rs 21,182 crore. Together they have the capacity to produce 4.93 mtpa sponge iron, 0.63 mtpa pig iron, 3.8 mtpa steel and 610.5 MW of captive power.

Since the current meltdown had hit hard the Orissa-based steel industry, Orissa Mining Corporation, the state-owned organisation, had decided to re-tender the contracts revising downward the prices of ore it supplied to various customers, the Minister added.