HYDERABAD: The chances of Telangana getting a steel plant at Bayyaram in Mahabubabad district seems bleak with the Centre deciding to privatise public sector undertaking (PSU) Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), the corporate entity of the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant. Also, there is talk of disinvestment of another PSU — Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL).
Though the Telangana government had once contemplated establishing the Bayyaram steel plant on its own, it changed its stance later and decided to pressure the Centre to fulfil its assurance of setting up the plant as per the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014. Later, as the Centre had assured it would set up the plant, the State government issued a notification in February 2015 for the reassessment of iron ore deposits across 100 sqkm in erstwhile Khammam and Warangal districts by the Department of Mines and Geology, Telangana. The survey was conducted for five years as part of an MoU with the Geological Survey of India (GSI).
The State government had engaged M/s Mecon Ltd for drafting a techno-economic feasibility report for the proposed three million tonnes per annum integrated steel plant at Dharmapuram village in Bayyaram mandal of Mahabubabad district. But, preliminary reports stated that the iron ore deposits available in Telangana would be useful for manufacturing pellets.
TRS MP had raised steel plant issue in RS
Last year’s report by the Geological Survey of India (GSI) on iron ore deposits in the country stated, “In the Karimnagar belt belonging to the Dharwar Supergroup, iron ore derived from Banded Hematite Quartzite (BHQ) is found in the Yerabali ferruginous quartzite. Iron ore is also found in similar settings in Khammam and Warangal districts, besides in Proterozoic Pakhal group of rocks and also the Dharwars. In Adilabad district, iron ore also occurs in association with the Upper Gondwana sediments in the Sirpur area.
Float iron ore (rich in Hematite ) occurrences are known from Krishna and Khammam districts”.
TRS MP Banda Prakash raised the Bayyaram steel plant issue in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday and requested the Central government to fulfil its assurance. It remains to be seen if the plant will see the light of day or meet the same fate as the Information Technology Investment Region (ITIR).
Why the demand may not be fulfilled
The Centre is deciding to privatise PSU Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited, the corporate entity of the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant. Also, there is talk of disinvestment of Steel Authority of India Limited