By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR/JHARSUGUDA: The acquisition of Concast Steel and Power Limited at Hirma in Jharsuguda district in Odisha by the SMC Power Generation Limited, has caused a revenue loss of Rs 18.86 Crore, sources said. The SMC had purchased the Concast Steel at Rs 288.55 crore through an NCLT auction. But after acquisition the value of the unit was shown to be only Rs 24. 86 crore during registration and thereby the State Government lost Rs 18.99 crore towards stamp duty.
IG (Registration) in Cuttack, Jharsuguda ADM and Sub-Registrar were kept mum as these 2 firms carried out their operations. Former Jharsuguda District Bar Association president P Ram Mohan Rao demanded a high level probe into it.
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.
Noida-based SMC Power Generation had acquired the main steel mill and power plant of Concast Steel and Power Ltd in a liquidation process last year. 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 was 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 had 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.
“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.
