The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : `TTP heading for a crisis'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jan 10, 2006

Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

`TTP heading for a crisis'

Staff Reporter

Following cut in ilmenite supply: Kadakampally Surendran

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Travancore Titanium Products (TTP) Ltd. is heading for a crisis owing to cut in ilmenite supply from Indian Rare Earths (IRE), Titanium General Labour Union president Kadakampally Surendran has said.

Mr. Surendran told reporters here on Monday evening that the company, with a production capacity of 68 tonnes per day, required 150 tonnes of ilmenite. Following the drastic cut in supply, the company had suffered a production loss of Rs.15 crores and would be forced to close down.

TTP is the only public sector company that manufactures anatase grade titanium. Ilmenite was being supplied by the IRE at Manavala Kurichi for the past 15 years. The Atomic Energy Department had assured supply of 60,000 tonnes of ilmenite to the company annually.

Mr. Surendran alleged that following the intervention of certain vested interests, the supply had been reduced to 25,000 tonnes. The ilmenite supply to private companies, including Cochin Minerals and Rutiles Limited, Kilburn and V.V. Minerals, continued to be unaffected. Those importing titanium dioxide manufactured by multi-national companies were conspiring against TTP by cutting the ilmenite supply, he said.

The production target of the company for the current financial year was 20,000 tonnes, but following the reduction in supply, the company was forced to reduce production. From 1,890 tonnes of titanium manufactured in October, the production came down to 1,300 tonnes in November and 1,100 tonnes in December. This was likely to go down further in the coming months, he said.

Nearly four lakh tonnes of ilmenite was being exported to foreign companies at the rate of $80 per tonne. The multi-national companies that bought the ilmenite from the IRE were dumping their value-added products in the Indian market. TTP was exporting value-added products of ilmenite at Rs.80,000, but the Government was not considering the benefits to the economy in this regard, he said.

When the TTP authorities contacted the IRE management for resumption of supply, the latter offered to supply ilmenite from Orissa. This was proof of the conspiracy to upset the functioning of the TTP, he said.

The cut in supply had come at a time when the company was going ahead with a Rs.260-crore pollution control and diversification project. The union's repeated requests to the Central Government to ensure smooth supply of ilmenite and the State Government to set up a mineral separation plant had not yielded the desired results. He sought the intervention of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Industries Minister V.K. Ebrahim Kunju to end the stalemate.

Union general secretary S. Jayan and vice-president Paul Fernandez were also present.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Kerala