KIOCL may secure mines at Bellary

The public sector mining major Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Limited (KIOCL) is hopeful of a suitable solution following the announcement by water resources and transport minister Mallikarjuna Kharge that the Cabinet has taken a decision to allot mines at Bellary.

Kharge made this announcement after unveiling Ambedkar's statue at KIOCL township in Kudremukh recently. It may be recalled that the Supreme Court had ordered KIOCL to stop mining at Kudremukh by December 2005. KIOCL is a 100 per cent export oriented profit making company.

However, chief minister N Dharam Singh had only mentioned that the government was ready to take care of KIOCL workers' interests when the mines are closed by end of December at a Congress party convention held at Chikmagalur recently. He did not elaborate on an alternative solution. He also pointed out that the winding up of operations completely at Kudremukh would take at least three years.

According to KIOCL sources the request with the government to start mining in Hospet by KIOCL is still pending because of a litigation. The government had permitted National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) to start operations in Hospet along with some others. The NMDC had already started work on building the infrastructure there.

The S M Krishna government had permitted private parties also to mine the iron ore there though earlier it was reserved only for government agencies. The NMDC has moved the court and if it wins KIOCL will have chances of shifting its operations to Hospet.

Government can also think of merging KIOCL with NMDC or importing ore from NMDC to run the pellet plant. Or else the only option would be to give a golden handshake to its 1,916 employees, the sources added.