VIJAYAWADA: Union Minister of Steel Dharmendra Pradhan has said that procurement of iron ore from open market at the market prices in the absence of allocation of any captive mine is one of the factors that led to the losses of RINL, the corporate entity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant.
In a written reply to the question raised by YSRC Rajya Sabha MP V Vijayasai Reddy, the Union Minister said that the RINL has requested various State governments including Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh for recommending reservation of iron ore deposit to the Union Ministry of Mines and Ministry of Steel has also requested the Odisha Government for reservation of an iron ore block in favour of RINL.
Stating that RINL has been ‘in principle’ allocated Rabodih OCP coal mine in Jharkhand in March, 2020 by the Ministry of Coal, he said the allocation is done as per the provisions of the Coal Mines (Special Provisions ) Act, 2015.