A three-member inter-ministerial panel of the Odisha government has urged Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Odisha Ltd (Ipicol) to assess annual raw material requirement of industries operating without linkages in the state.
The panel constituted to formulate a policy for offering raw materials to industries in the state on a long-term basis, had its maiden meeting on Monday.
"The ministerial committee had preliminary discussion on raw material needs of local end-use industries. We have asked Ipicol to assess annual raw material requirement of industries operating without linkages. Out of49 MoUs (memorandum of understanding) signed in the steel sector, 30 players have started production on a partial scale”, said steel & mines minister Rajani Kant Singh.
The committee will submit its report by January 30, he added.
Prasanna Acharya, finance minister who heads the panel said, “The subsequent meetings of the panel will decide the future course of action.”
The committee's mandate will be to suggest measures for making ironore, manganese ore, bauxite and chrome ore available to to the mineralbased industries located in the state.
The mineral ores will be madeavailable in a fair and equitable manner through the Odisha MiningCorporation and other mining lessees.
Besides, the committee will suggest modalities for making the oreavailable on a sustained basis to such industries through appropriatelong-term ore linkage arrangements. It will also suggest a frameworkfor making the ore available to local industries through a transparentprocess.
The steel & mines department had received a number of representationsfrom mineral based industries that they are facing shortage of orerequired for running their industries.
Scarcity of raw materials hadimpaired production of some of these industries.The department feared that non-availability of ore for runningindustries may lead to a situation with adverse socio-economic consequences like unemployment and loss of wages.
It is also likely to have an adverse impact on the state's investment climate andindustrialization process, thereby hampering the economic growth ofthe state.