`Check Mittal Steel's track record'

With global major Mittal Steel likely to foray into India with its proposal to set up a five million tonne steel plant in Jharkhand, Tata Steel has asked the government to check its track record before inviting the company.

"Many global steel majors like Mittal Steel and Posco are trying to come to india. They want iron ore, but I will request chief minister Arjun Munda to check the track records of the companies before inviting them to the state. You should see which company you are inviting," B Muthuraman, MD of Tata Steel, said in the presence of Munda last night.

Pointing out the contributions Tata Steel had made for the development of Jharkhand, he said the company had spent Rs 45,000 crore on nation building in 85 years, and asked the state government and centre to see whether those who wanted to come now, including Mittal Steel controlled by L N Mittal, would create value for the state and make such contribution.

He said Tisco has a shareholder base of ten lakh who get dividend, but "here is a company where dividend goes to only one shareholder."

Muthuraman, who was speaking at a public function on the occasion of completion of the company's one million tonne capacity expansion programme, said mineral-rich Jharkhand could be an affluent state. "But if the natural resources go to wrong hands he will not do anything for the society here and work for his own betterment," he said.