Want more jobs? Give us the ore!
Union steel minister Ram Vilas Paswan and Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda used the launch platform of Bokaro Steel Plant’s modernization and expansion programme for a bit of sparring.
Koda was urging Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for help from the Centre to get Jharkhad some big projects that would generate employment.
Paswan, sore over Jharkhand’s delay in renewing the lease on the giant Chiria mines in favour of SAIL, did not miss the opportunity.
“SAIL wants to set up a 12 million tonne steel plant in Jharkhand, which means it is thrice the size of Bokaro Steel Plant’s present capacity, employing 20,000 people,” Paswan said. “But Madhu Koda-ji is not in a mood to cooperate with SAIL on the mining issue.
Chiria, with 1 billion tonne of iron ore under the ground, is said to be the second largest iron ore reserve in the world. However, the Jharkhand government, which has a proposal from steel tycoon LN Mittal as well, is yet to decide whether to divide Chiria for all players or renew the lease in favour of SAIL.
Paswan said SAIL has revised its target of increasing steel capacity and plans to take it up to 124m tonne by 2011-12 against 110m tonne by 2010 as planned earlier.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in his speech, pointed out that the Union government has allotted Jharkhand Rs 40,240 crore for the 11 th Five-Year Plan, which is three times the allocation that was made for the 10 th Plan.
The center has also granted Rs 7,000 crore for the development the tribals, but the state has been unable to hold the panchayat elections because of some pending cases so the funds have not been released.Singh also highlighted the railway ministry’s plans to improve the connectivity between Jharkhand’s capital Ranchi and Delhi and the surface transport ministry’s plans for better highways in the state.
SAIL’s Bokaro plant is increasing hot metal capacity from 4.5m tonne per annum at present to 7.44m tpa by 2010 at a cost of Rs 11,000 crore, an upward revision from the initial estimate of Rs 9,000 crore.