By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR/ NEW DELHI/JHARSUGUDA: Noida-based SMC Power Generation has acquired the main steel mill and power plant of Concast Steel and Power Ltd in a liquidation process. SMC Power Generation has installed capacities to produce 2 lakh tonne of sponge iron per annum, 3.5 lakh tonne of billets, 2.5 lakh tonne of TMT and captive power generation of 33 MW in Jharsuguda in Odisha.
With INR 300 crore offered as upfront cash to lenders, this is the largest acquisition so far within the liquidation process under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016. Concast has capacity to produce 7.75 lakh tonnes per annum of sponge iron and pig iron, 2.5 lakh tonnes of TMT steel bars, structures and ferro alloys. SMC has also acquired a 70MW captive power plant as part of this.
Concast Steel and Power, an integrated iron and steel manufacturer with a sintering plant, and sponge iron units, in Jharsuguda, declared bankruptcy in November 2017 with outstanding dues of nearly INR 10,000 crore. State Bank of India is the lead banker in the consortium that lent to Concast. With no offers forthcoming during the corporate insolvency resolution process, the Kolkata bench of the National Company Law Tribunal had ordered liquidation in September 2018.
Meanwhile, the M.C. Agarwal and Anurag Agarwal owned SMC Power Generation Ltd, which has plants in Odisha’s Jharsuguda and Chhttisgarh’s Raipur Industrial area, has been under scanner after several activists demanded a CBI probe into the state of affairs of the Company in Odisha.
“The Company’s plant in Jharsuguda has been creating a lot of air and water pollution in Jharsuguda-Sambalpur Industrial belt. The Company has also violated many laws of Forest and Environment and Wildlife Protection Acts,” said Umakanta Senapati, an activist in Bhubaneswar. “We have urged the Directorate General of GST Intelligence, Bhubaneswar Zonal Unit to look into company’s GST issues,” he added.
Locals in Jharsuguda alleged that using illegal means and ways going “A CBI raid in Jharsuguda, New Delhi and Raipur will expose all Company’s illegal network,” he added. The studied silence of Naveen Patnaik led BJD Government in Odisha over illegal activities in and air-water pollution in Jharsuguda-Sambalpur region by SMC Power Generation Ltd raise questions.
Without wanting to be identified, a businessman associated with materials supply to the industries of Jharsuguda said to www.indianewsdiary.com that many steel and power industries including SMC Power Generation Pvt Ltd were collecting raw materials – such as iron ore and coal – illegally without paying taxes for a long time.But the inflow of such illegally-obtained raw materials was checked all of a sudden with the state government acting tough on the violation and ensuring strict checking of ore-laden materials in the region.
