Tamil Nadu - Salem   

‘Allow Salem Steel Plant to access iron ore deposits in Kanjamalai’

SALEM: The Steel Plant Employees’ Union has urged the State government to repeal the mining rights awarded to a private firm in the resource rich Kanjamalai and allow the public sector Salem Steel Plant (SSP) to access the iron ore deposits in the hills.

A resolution adopted to this effect at the annual general body meeting of the union here recently said the Tamil Nadu Government awarded mining rights to the firm in the northern flank of Kanjamalai, which was against the interest of the public sector SSP.

The SSP’s future growth largely depend upon the availability of iron ore from Kanjamalai, as the plant had taken up a massive modernisation and expansion programme with steel melting and other facilities at Rs. 1,900 crore.

The union pointed that Kanjamalai and its iron ore reserves formed the very basis for setting up the steel plant in Salem as a public sector undertaking, which started functioning from 1981. Tests were carried out even before the establishment of the plant in 1964 based on the samples collected from Kanjamalai.

It was found that the iron ore found in the hills had an average Fe content of 35 per cent and it was more than 45 per cent in the northern flank of the hills.

These tests led to the setting up a steel plant through the Government of India. The present location of the plant was decided in order to utilise the reserves in the northern flank.

But in a shocking move, the Tamil Nadu Government offered 638 hectares of reserve forest area in the northern flank to the private firm.

The SSP had already sought mining rights from the State government as the iron reserves in the hills were vital for the plant’s next stage of growth.

Union Minister of Steel Ram Vilas Paswan also made an appeal in this regard.

The union had taken this issue to the notice of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister.

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