Bhubaneswar: Even as the Odisha based steel units are crying oven scarcity of raw material a government report shows that there are enough iron ore fines and lumps at various mines heads lying unsold.
According to an internal report of the steel and mines department there are total 46.52 million tones of iron ore fines and 7.15 million tones of iron ore lumps lying at mines heads in different mining circles. Thus total 53.6 million tones of iron ore remain stocked at the mines head.
In Joda 27.6 million tones, Koira12.8 million tones, Keonjhar 5.2 million tones, Baripada 0.37 million tones, Jajpur road 0.43 million tones of iron ore fines has been stocked at mines head.
Similarly in Joda 3.4 million tones, Koira 2.4 million tones, Keonjhar 0.57 million tones, Baripada 0.45 million tones, Jajpur road 0.22 million tones of iron ore lumps has been stocked at mines head.
A senior official of the Directorate of Mines said that the iron ore remain unsold are mostly from the 50% state quota. Generally the 50% earmarked for the outside state units get sold out. But as the local steel units demand raw material at a lower price the minerals remain unsold.
The local steel units under the banner of All Odisha Steel Federation (AOSF) have been demanding for steady raw material supply with a lower price. The Odisha government last year had come up with a resolution to earmark 50 percent iron ore for the state based units and the rest 50% for the outside steel units.
Reported by Tapan Moharana
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