|
| Tata Steel's land lease in Keonjhar cancelled | |
| BS Reporter / Kolkata/ Bhubaneswar July 10, 2009, 0:41 IST | |
The Orissa government has cancelled the lease of 120 acres of land granted to Tata Iron and Steel Ltd at Nayagarh in Keonjhar district.
Though the land was allotted to the company for setting up of a sponge iron plant, it couldn’t start the construction work for the project in time.
On this ground the land lease was cancelled, said the state steel and mines minister Raghunath Mohanty.
In a written reply in the state Assembly, the minister said, the government had identified land for 22 industrial units to come up in Keonjhar district. Of them 12 industries had signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the state government while the rest 10 belonged to the non-MoU category.
The companies which signed MoU included big ticket investors like ArcelorMittal, Essar Steel, Sterlite Iron, Welspun Power and Steel Ltd, Brahmani River Pellets, Uttam Galva, Brand Alloys, Cracker India, Patnaik Steel and Alloys (existing unit), Beekay Steel and Power (existing unit), Deepak Steel and Power and Shree Metaliks (existing unit).
The non-MoU companies included Crackers India, Orion Ispat, Rashmi Metalliks, Tata Iron Ltd., Kusum Powermet, Sumrit Metaliks, Hari Machines, Aryan Iron and Steel, Tata Iron and Steel and Tata Sponge Iron Ltd. The minister said, the construction work of Brahmani Pellets, Crackers India and Kusum Powermet has begun. Similarly, land acquisition process has started for Orion Ispat.
Replying to another query, the minister ruled out the possibility of constituting a house committee to enquire into the alleged illegal raising and export of iron ore and manganese at Rugudi, Rudukela and Katasahi manganese and iron ore mines near Joda. He said, the government has taken effective steps when such matter came to its notice.
Mohanty said, the government has decided to grant mining lease (ML) to mine manganese at Rugudi, Rudukela and Katasahi in favour of Bahadur Thakur Ltd. Since the company was not able to submit the permission to convert the forest land for non-forest use, the ML hasn’t been granted yet.
He said, some unknown persons resorted to illegal raising of minerals from the leased area and the government has taken steps to stop it. The director of mines, Orissa government has also permitted the deployment of security personnel following a request of the authorised representative of Bahadur Thakur Ltd, he added.
|
|
Content Guide
