The inter-ministerial committee of the State Government on long term ore linkage to local industries on a sustainable manner is believed to have recommended that the Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) should be the nodal agency to take care of the ore requirement.
The three-member committee headed by Finance Minister Prasanna Acharya has submitted its report to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. However, the committee members refused to divulge the content of the report.
Industries Minister Niranjan Pujari and Minister of State for Steel and Mines RK Singh are other members of the committee.The Finance Minister said the report will be placed before the Cabinet for a final decision.
Industries sources said the inter-ministerial committee (IMC) has recommended strengthening of the State-owned OMC for sale of ore to the local industries through e-auction.
The industries are opposing the e-auction proposal as they think that their units will not be commercially viable and their products will not be competitive in domestic and international market.
The report of the ministerial committee came at a time when several orders of the State Government on ore supply were either rejected by the Centre or challenged in different fora.The Steel and Mines Department, through a resolution on December 5, 2012, made it mandatory for lessees without end-use plants to sell at least 50 per cent of their extracted iron ore to State-based consuming industries.
However, the Centre shut down the resolution saying the State Government has no such authority.
Meanwhile, the Steel and Mines Department is reported to have sought legal opinion of the Advocate General on the issue. Industries sources said the Government resolution will not be legally tenable.
The Government set up the committee last year after a number of local mineral units complained that they faced acute shortage of ore while miners sell away the minerals to industries outside the State.
One of the glaring example is Vedanta’s alumina refinery at Lanjigarh in Kalahandi district which remained closed for about seven months due to scarcity of raw material.
The committee had interaction with all stakeholders including representatives of steel and aluminium companies, industries associations and mines owners with regard to formulation of a policy.
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