The Minister for
Steel Shri B.K. Tripathy today apprised the members of the Consultative
Committee attached to his Ministry that Kudremukh Iron Ore Company
Ltd. (KIOCL) has constituted a high level committee to prepare
short term and long term action plans for continuance of the operation
of the Company, following the judgment of the Supreme Court to
close the existing mining activities by the end of December, 2005.
The committee would submit its action plan within three months.
In the meantime,
the Minister said, the Company is making efforts to find alternative
source of raw material for the pelletisation plant at Mangalore,
both in the country and abroad. It is trying to obtain prospecting
licence/mining lease for exploration of iron ore deposits in Karnataka,
Orissa and Jharkhand. He said that the Company directly employ
2250 technically and professionally qualified officials and 10,000
people are indirectly employed in its establishments at Kudremukh,
Mangalore, Bangalore, Chennai and New Delhi. Company is having
a modern township with school, hospitals and other facilities.
The members of the
Committee expressed concern over the future of the Company and
asked the CMD to take all possible steps for its rehabilitation
within the next two years. Earlier, the minister informed the
committee that the steel sector was gradually picking up. The
production of finished steel for April-October, 2002, has been
estimated at 18.30 million tonnes as against the production of
17.18 million tonnes during the same period last year showing
an increase of 7 per cent. The total production of pig iron for
April-October, 2002 has been 2.80 million tonnes as against the
production of 2.21 million tonnes during the same period of the
previous year showing an increase of 27 per cent.
The export of finished
steel and semis for April-October, 2002, he said, has an increase
of about 3 per cent as compared to the corresponding period last
year. The apparent Consumption of finished steel items has also
shown a growth of 6.2 per cent
The Members of Parliament
present were: - S/Sh. Tarachand Sahu, Sunil Khan, Manjaylal, Jibon
Roy, Gaya Singh and Dwijendra Nath Sharma.
