Business Standard reported that the Odisha government has constituted a ministerial committee to formulate a policy for offering raw materials to industries in the state on a long term basis.

The committee will be chaired by the state finance minister with industries minister and steel & mines minister as its members.

The committee’s mandate will be to suggest measures for making iron ore, manganese ore, bauxite and chrome ore available to the mineral based industries located in the state. The mineral ores will be made available in a fair and equitable manner through the Odisha Mining Corporation and other mining lessees.

Besides, the committee will suggest modalities for making the ore available on a sustained basis to such industries through appropriate long term ore linkage arrangements. It will also suggest a framework for making the ore available to local industries through a transparent process.

The formation of the committee follows a long standing demand by end use industries that have been suffering for want of raw materials.