Raman demands 10% of NMDC earnings for Bastar development

Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh had demanded that the state run National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) should spend at least 10 per cent of its earning for the development of Bastar region.

NMDC has mining operations in Bastar region of Chhattisgarh. The mining major has two fully mechanised mines in Bastar's Bailadila hills of Dantewada district where it excavates 20.5 million tonnes of its total annual production of 27 million tonnes.

The resaoning behind the demand is that the company earns more than Rs 4000 crore every year from Chhattisgarh projects and it should spend some of this for the local development of the predominatly tribal Bastar region, Singh said in the state legislative assembly.

The chief minister said a major portion of state's coal and iron-ore deposits was owned by the state run South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL) and NMDC.

Singh also castigated NMDC for the delay in starting the project for three-million tonnes per annum capacity integrated steel plant that would come up in Nagarnaar area of Bastar.