By Anurjay Dhal
BHUBANESWAR: Call it Dharmendra Pradhan proposed and Naveen Patnaik implemented with result was mind-blowing. With Ministry of Steel headed by Pradhan, who is representing the BJP in Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh largely depends on raw materials while Odisha’s which houses India’s one of the best quality Iron, Ore and Manganese in its 3 mineral bearing districts of Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj and Sundargarh, is being manned by flamboyant Patnaik.
The understanding between Union Mines, Steel Ministries with Odisha Government for a greater interest has resulted Rs 4.87 Lakh Crore revenue for Odisha from the 23 out of 24 mines auctioned, those are expiring by March 31 this year. “We were happy and smoothly we have done it,” a seemingly delighted, Additional Chief Secretary Odisha Steel and Mines Department Raj Kumar Sharma said. These 23 Mines holds Iron Ore 1716.92 mt, Manganese 8.77 mt and Chrome Ore having 104.96 mt, which was worth Rs.4,87,082.55 Crore.
Out of 23 Mineral Blocks, 11 are in Keonjhar, 8 in Sundargarh 03 in Jajpur and 1 in Mayurbhanj. Auction for Badampahad block under Rairangpur circle under Mayurbhanj held by Lal Trade Agencies Pvt Ltd, a group Company of Ghanshyam Mishra and Sons owned by Kolkata based Jagadish Misra and Raj Kumar Mishra, which retained its Gorumahisani block, has been put on hold for court case while auction for 23 completed.
Guali Iron Ore block held by Jharkhand based RP Sao and Sons under Joda circle in Keonjhar was the last one, which was bagged by Congress leader Naveen Jindal run Jindal Steel and Power Ltd by paying 144% premium to Naveen Patnaik Government. Tata Steel’s subsidiary, TS Alloys bagged Sukinda Chrome Block in State’s Jajpur on Tuesday. TS Alloys won the Sukinda mines by committing to pay 93.7 per cent of the average sale price to the Odisha government.
When the issue of delay of mining auction came into public with panic from Steel Industry, Union Minister Pradhan persuaded officials in Steel and Mines Ministries and was always in touch with Chief Minister Patnaik for smoothing ending of auction and as a of result of which, Odisha got huge revenue and timely completion of auction will help to continue supply of raw materials to Steel Industries.
Meanwhile, auctions of virgin mineral blocks are being delayed as the Naveen Patnaik led BJD Government first prioritised the offer of merchant mines whose lease validity ceases by March 31, 2020. Market experts feel these blocks may lose out to the lapsing merchant blocks where it will be easier to recommence mining and achieve seamless production and despatch.
State Steel and Mines Department officials however informed that these blocks will be offered for electronic auctions. “ We are working on it and we will initiate the process of auctioning the 9 virgin mineral blocks soon, we hope, we will start soon,” Deepak Mohanty, Odisha Director of Mines said.
The 9 Blocks included 7 Iron Ore, 1 exclusive Manganese,and 1 block with co-existence of Iron Ore and Manganese. The 7 Iron Ore Blocks listed are Purheibahal, Chandiposhi, Rengalaberha North East, Gandhalpada, Netrabandha Pahar (West), Dholtapahar and Jhumka Pathriposhi. Unchabali has mixed Iron Ore and Manganese reserves while Kalimati is the sole Manganese block, official sources said.
Union Minister Pradhan in the Lok Sabha in reply to an Unstarred Question said that the production of iron ore in the country is sufficient to meet the current demand/consumption of iron ore by domestic steel industry. However, the entire demand of coking coal is not met from domestic production as the availability of high-quality coking coal (low-ash coal) in the country is limited and thus no option is left but to resort to import of coking coal.
