Hindu reported that Mr A Ajay Sarma president of CITU district and Mr J Ayodhyaramu president of Steel Plant Employees’ Union sought an explanation from the State government for rejecting applications from Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited for grant of iron ore mining leases in Anantapur and Prakasam districts.

The said that “We wonder why RINL’s plea for mines extending over 1,307 hectares in Prakasam district vide application No 1533 and over 304 hectares in Anantapur vide application No 4844 were not considered while allotting lease to Obulapuram Mining Company for supplying the raw material to Brahmani Steels.”

Mr Sarma said that with a vested interest, mining lease was granted to OMC so as to allow export of iron ore and mint money. He wanted to know the rationale behind allowing OMC, owned by a powerful political family of Karnataka, to dig iron ore in the State, whereas RINL owned Visakhapatnam Steel Plant was being forced to spend a heavy price towards sourcing raw material from outside Andhra Pradesh.

He said that in Prakasam district, the government allowed AP Mineral Development Corporation to enter into an agreement with Chennai-based private company for extracting high quality iron ore on a fifty-fifty basis in 2006 in Marlapadu area. The digging is yet to start.

The CITU leader said that there was no justification in shifting the buck on the part of the State government that the authorities concerned in Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand were not according ‘no objection’ to grant of captive mines to RINL. He pointed out that “Why should we blame them when our own government is depriving RINL of captive mines in Andhra Pradesh while giving leases to OMC and others.”

Mr Sarma said that the CITU would take the issue to the people by launching a vigorous campaign for grant of captive mines to RINL in Prakasam and Anantapur districts.

(Sourced from Hindu.com)