Tata Steel suggests changes in mine allotment policy

Tata Steel Managing Director H M Nerurkar today said there should be change in allotment of mines policy and mine lease should be granted first to industries engaged in value addition.

"From the top of my voice, I have been demanding for drastic change in the allotment of mines and the prevailing auction of mine blocks (coal blocks) exist nowhere in the world except India," Nerurkar told newsmen in reply to a question.

Whether the industries vying for mining lease were contributing for the country should be taken into consideration before granting mining lease, he suggested.

He said industries engaged in value addition downstream and creating jobs should get mining lease first.

Nobody was bothered about the mining sector, especially iron-ore, till early 2000, but spurt in activities was witnessed with the booming of the industrial sector after 2003-04, he said.

He suggested that small players in the mining sector should form co-operatives for smooth functioning of the sector.

Referring the private steel major's proposed steel plant in Karnataka, he said negotiations with the Karnataka government were in the final stages. "But we are not yet sure about the nature of land to be allotted to us."