Odisha government notifies new panel for supply of raw material to local industries

With a view to
find a long term solution to the raw material crisis of the mineral based
industries the Odisha government has constituted an inter-ministerial committee
headed by the finance minister Mr.Prasanna Acharya and minister for industries
Mr Niranjan Pujari, Steel and mines minister Mr.Rajnikant Singh as members. The
aim of the panel is to formulate a policy to provide raw materials to the user
industries on long term basis.

The terms of
reference of the committee will be to suggest measures for making iron
ore,manganese ore,Bauxite and chrome ore available to the mineral based
industries in the state in a fair and equitable manner through the OMC and
other mining lease holders. Also the committee will suggest modalities for
making the ore available to the industries on a sustainable basis through long
term ore linkage arrangements. It’ll also suggest a framework for making the
ore available to local industries through a transparent process. The panel will
submit its report within 3 months i.e by 31 January 2013.

The formation of
committee is vital as the mineral based industries in the state have been
facing raw material crisis. As per the government data there are 108 sponge
iron and 29 partially producing integrated steel plants in the state and almost
all are facing iron ore crisis for the last few years. More than half of the
sponge iron plants have already fully or partially closed owing to scarcity of
raw material. On the other hand Vedanta Aluminium has decided to shut down its
Lanjigarh refinery from December, owing to unavailability of Bauxite.

The All Odisha
Steel Federation is fighting a long battle with the OMC and the state
government for this cause. Now the federation is preparing to put its case
before the Shah Commission who is visiting the state from 31^st of
this month. The president of the federation Mr.P. L. Kandoi has asked all the
steel mills to mention their raw material requirement so that an exact aggregate
figure could be presented before the Shah committee.

Edited by Tapan Moharana