Chhattisgarh govt puts cap on NMDC iron ore export

In yet another move to mount pressure on country’s largest producer and exporter of iron ore, Chhattisgarh government on Tuesday said that state-run National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) should export the steel-making raw material only after meeting state’s requirement.

The NMDC has a major operation in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district. Of the three fully mechnaised mines that it own, two are located in Bailadila sector mines of Naxal-infested Dantewada district.

The NMDC is presently producing 30 million tonnes (MT) of iron ore, of which Bailadila sector mines share 22 MT. The company stepped in the area in the later half of 1961 and since then it is actively engaged in extraction, development and exploration of many deposits.

“Of the total iron-ore produced, NMDC is providing only 2.71 MT to the local industrialists in Chhattisgarh,” Chief Minister Raman Singh said in the state legislative assembly on Tuesday. The remaining world-class iron-ore endowed to the state is being exported while the local steel makers are reeling under raw material crises, he added.

Despite state being the major mining centre for the NMDC, the local industrialists are not even getting 25 per cent of the total iron ore they require annually to run the plants, Singh said, adding that the steel industries in the state are facing worst ever crises of the raw material and many units are on the verge of closure.

If the units get closed, a huge number of people will be left jobless and this comes under the category of national crime for cutting raw material supply to the industries and forcing it to shut down, Singh said, adding that the NMDC should immediately increase the quota of iron ore for the state.

“The NMDC should first meet the total requirement of iron-ore in the state and then export the remaining stock,” Singh said. He would mount pressure on the mining major in this connection, the chief minister hinted.

For the last couple of years, Chhattisgarh government had been asking NMDC to increase the quota of iron ore for the local industrialists. The senior state officials have also held several rounds of discussion with the NMDC officials in this connection. But to no avail.