Minister of Steel Dharmendra Pradhan on Wednesday confirmed that Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), the corporate entity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP), was procuring iron ore from the open market in the absence captive mines, and this was one of the factors for incurring losses.
He also said that RINL had requested several State governments, including Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh, for recommending reservation of iron ore deposits under Section 17A (2A) of MMDR Act – 2015 to the Ministry of Mines.
Mr. Pradhan also stated that the Ministry of Steel had requested the Government of Odisha for reservation of an iron ore block in favour of RINL.
The Union Minister was referring to an unstarred question by YSRCP Rajya Sabha member V. Vijaya Sai Reddy on whether non-availability of captive mines was the main reason for RINL incurring losses.
Referring to a question on coal block allocation to RINL, Mr. Pradhan stated that RINL had “in principle” been allocated Rabodih OCP Coal Mine in Jharkhand under provision of the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015, in March 2020, by Ministry of Coal.
