By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI/BHUBANESWAR: After Rata Tata, Ajim Premji, Sajjan-Naveen Jindal, Mukesh Ambani, it’s now turn for Lakshmi Mittal, the global steel giant, to extend help of hands to PM-CARES to fight back COVID-19 outbreak in the Country.
The Company had taken over the debt ridden ESSAR Steel’s Odisha unit located at Port City of Paradip and the Company had own a Iron Ore Block under Joda-Koira mining circles of State’s mineral bearing Keonjhar-Sundargarh regions in the last concluded bidding for mines , those expired on March 31. The Thakurani(reserves 180 MnT), fetched a premium at 107.55 per cent and was won by ArcelorMittal last month in Odisha Mining auction.
ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India in a twit said “Mr Lakshmi N Mittal announces that ArcellorMittal Nippon Steel India(@AMNSIndia) and HMEL_India are committing Rs 100 crore to PMCARES. We also support the healthcare needs of ….”.
AM/NS India, a joint venture between ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel, and HMEL, a partnership between Hindustan Petroleum and Mittal Energy Investments, today announce a package of support to strengthen India’s capacity to protect families and communities impacted by the virus.
“Both our operations in India commit equally to a total of INR 100 Crores to Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situation Fund (PM-CARES] for the ongoing relief efforts countrywide,” the Company said.
Additionally our operations are contributing through supporting daily meals of over 5,000 as well as providing food kits to more than 30,000 people.Augmenting ambulance services and preparing care centres in location close to our production facilities
Sharing knowledge on preventive measures and providing sanitation kits and PPE in the communities we operate.All employees will continue to receive a salary for their work during this period
COVID-19 is having significant repercussions for people in every continent of the planet. No country will be immune and for those like India, with a vast population and at a critical point in its development, the impact could be very serious.
Collaboration in times like these is critical. Governments, companies and citizens must therefore work together to pool their resources, to ensure every action is taken to combat the pandemic as swiftly as possible.
All over the world individuals, organisations and companies are offering their services. I am pleased that our companies can play a small role in assisting with this. The ingenuity of mankind is considerable and I am convinced, if we all work together with urgency we will succeed. Citizens across India have shown extraordinary dedication, bravery and compassion in this moment of singular crisis and they deserve our support and the gratitude of the nation.
It may be mentioned here that Odisha Principal Secretary for Industries Hemant Sharma had months back, reached out to ArcelorMittal-Nippon, asking them to set up a 3 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) capacity steel plant in the state. The land for the plant is already with the company and talks are at a preliminary stage with ArcelorMittal Nippon.
The erstwhile promoter of Essar Steel had signed a MoU with Odisha government in 2005 for building a steel plant in Paradip, which could cost about Rs 12,000 crore.
“Original MoU with Essar Steel was for setting up of 3MTPA steel plant at Paradip in Odisha, it will give a major boost to our target of reaching 50 percent value addition on minerals in the state by 2030.”
The takeover of the Essar Steel by ArcelorMittal-Nippon had given the company access to a developing market with 10MTPA steel-making capacity on the west coast Hazira, Gujarat.
It also had the advantage of a pellet plant, beneficiation plant and slurry pipeline in Odisha, which will give the company an edge on the east coast as well.
ArcelorMittal-Nippon joint venture had made an initial payment of Rs 42,000 crore for the acquisition of Essar Steel under Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) in December 2019.
