SHIVAMOGGA:The Union government will invest Rs 1,000 crore to revive the Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Plant (VISP), Union Minister for Steel and Mines Narendra Singh Tomar said in Shimoga on Friday.
However, Tomar said VISP, a unit of the Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), would require support from the state government in terms of mines that provide raw material for the plant.
Tomar told reporters after visiting VISP and meeting officils and labour union leaders in Bhadravathi on Friday that the Centre is committed to VISP’s revival and added that the state government could provide the plant 245 hectares of mining land at Ramanadurga in Ballari.
Tomar said he had made this request to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah during his earlier visit to the state and hoped the Chief Minister will take a positive call on this.
Tomar also said he discussed with senior SAIL officials the fate of VISP and added that there would be no neglect of the plant and agreed to invest in it to revive it.
He said SAIL has mines outside Karnataka but allotting them to VISP would raise the cost of production due to transportation cost.
Hence SAIL is looking for a mine in Karnataka itself, he added. Appealing to Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers Ananth Kumar, MP B S Yeddyurappa and SAIL authorities to ensure that VISP was allotted the Ramanadurga mines, he said revival of the plant was possible with mutual cooperation of both governments.
Earlier, speaking after felicitation by party workers and labour unions, the Minister said the government was committed to reviving VISP in keeping with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ theme.