The mining ban in the three districts of Karnataka ? Bellary, Tumkur and Chitradurga ? and bottlenecks pertaining to state approvals for exporting iron ore may hamper the Indian Railways? plan to carry 993 million tonne of commodities this year.
The problem has aggravated so much that the national transporter has decided to take up the matter with the Prime Minister?s Office (PMO), giving a clear indication that it may not be able to meet its annual freight target announced in its last budget.
The Railways? overall loading of iron ore for exports in the first quarter of this year declined by around 4%.
It has already seen a shortfall of R800 crore in its freight loading earnings in the first quarter. According to a railways official, if the situation continues, it may miss its freight loading target for the year by around 40-45 mt.
The mining ban in Karnataka has hardened the blow that came last year in the form of Karnataka?s ban on movement of iron ore outside the country. The ban on exports was lifted about five months back, which, the official said, hasn?t improved things much.
?There are several bottlenecks in getting approval for exports, both in Orissa and Karnataka. After the ban on export was lifted, came the ban on mining in Karnataka. Since this would severely hit the production of iron ore in the area, the loading would be affected too,? the official said.
Railways have set a target of 993 million tonne (mt) of freight loading for current fiscal year as against 944 mt a year before. Last year, it had managed to carry only 925.51 mt of commodities, mainly due to reduction in the iron ore loading.
Railways had blamed the ban on exports of iron ore in Karnataka and Orissa for the decline and had estimated a loss of R2,000 crore due to same reason.
Iron ore is the second major revenue earner for the Railways after coal.
However, iron ore for exports account for only 2% of Railways total freight loading. Railways carried 25.67 mt iron ore for export in 2010-11 compared to 43.72 mt in the previous year. During April-July 2011, the iron ore loading (for exports) was 5.44 mt as against 9.54 mt a year ago.
Total iron ore carried by Railways in 2010-11 was 118.43 mt against 132.72 mt during the previous year. During the April-July period of 2011, the total iron ore carried by Railways stood at 37.18 mt against 38.3 mt a year ago. Karnataka produces over 40 million tonne of iron ore from these three mines. The mining firms have a stock of about 25 mt at present, but that is mostly being consumed domestically.