Steel re rollers urge govt to check illegal imports

The Madras Steel Re Rollers Association, an umbrella for more than 85 steel manufacturers in Chennai and Puducherry, has urged the government not to allow import and dumping of non-standard and non-ISI deformed bars from China.

The body alleged these bars were now at different ports, including Chennai, and requested the Customs department to fix a minimum floor price for their imports for the construction sector on top priority to safeguard the industry.

It also said the non-standard Chinese re-bars might pose a risk to the public at large. "Further, this will defeat the strict control on construction steel being exercised at present by BIS and such unscrupulous import of re-bars may cause unsalvageable damage to the public life, especially in view of spurt in growth in infrastructure proposed by both government of Tamil Nadu and Government of India," said the association.
 

Speaking to reporters here today, association members said these re-bars do not carry certification of BIS and to circumvent this mandatory provisions, they had been declared as deformed alloy steel re-bars.

"Such mis-declaration at import clearance enables the importer to circumvent the mandatory provision of standardisation of BIS in respect of construction steel and at the same time it enables them to clear the cargo by paying duty at a lower value. This not only results in loss of revenue for the government but also regulating and monitoring authority (ie BIS) is bypassed," they said.

The association claims its members provide employment to more than a lakh people in and around Chennai and Puducherry and it has an annual combined turnover of Rs 6,000 crore and contributes Rs 1,000 crore and Rs 400 crore to national and state exchequers respectively.