People's Democracy

Dissonance In National Mining Policy

Dipankar Mukherjee, CPI(M) MP, has written the following letter to the prime minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, on November 12 regarding the dissonance in the national mining policy.

I AM constrained to invite your kind attention to the dissonance in the national mining policy with respect to iron ore followed by some states, specially by Jharkhand. While appreciating the need of local development for the betterment of people in the region, there has to be a regional balance, both in terms of production and market, for the location of steel plants. There cannot be a rigid formulation of value addition only in a state where national resource like iron ore exists, as is being insisted by the state government of Jharkhand.

The situation warrants your intervention in view of further disturbing report of reluctance of the state government of Jharkhand even to renew the mining lease of Chiria and Gua iron one mines under IISCO, which now stands merged with the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL). As you are kindly aware, SAIL has already been operating Bokaro Steel Plant (BSL) within Jharkhand itself with proven track record. For government-owned steel makers like SAIL or RINL, the government has to ensure the raw material requirement of iron ore of these plants and the responsibility cannot be abdicated to suit some shortsighted decision of a particular state government.

I, therefore, request you to kindly issue necessary guidelines to the state government of Jharkhand to follow the existing mining policy and ensure renewal of the mining lease of Chiria and Gua under IISCO/SAIL without any further delay. (INN)