HYDERABAD: The State government has dropped its plan to start Bayyaram steel plant on its own and will instead wait for the Centre to fulfil the promise made under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act.
“The Centre had assured to set up the factory under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act. Let them do it,” sources in the government said while confirming that the State government has no plan to set up the factory on its own.
Asked if there was any plan to follow the example of the Andhra Pradesh government, which started a steel plant on its own recently, a top official in the State government replied in the negative and said.
“In Andhra Pradesh, private persons are involved in starting the steel factory. We don’t have such a plan to start the steel factory.”
“Under the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014, the Centre gave an assurance that a steel factory would be set up in Bayyaram. It is their responsibility,” the sources said.
“As per the AP Reorganisation Act, the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) was supposed to set up factories in both the sibling states. But the SAIL showed no inclination to start a factory either in Telangana or in AP,” they added.
With both the State and Central governments showing no interest, the chances of a steel factory coming up in Bayyaram remains remote now.
It may be mentioned here that in the last two years, the State government explored various options, including roping in the Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL), to start the Bayyaram steel factory. However, the experts felt that the quality of iron ore available in Bayyaram is of low quality.
The State government even planned to lay a railway line from Chhattisgarh to bring iron ore from there to feed the proposed Bayyaram plant.
However, with none of those plans materialising, the State government dropped its plans and left the decision of starting the factory to the Centre.
As the iron ore available is of inferior quality and one can only make pellets, it remains to be seen whether any private player will come forward to start a steel factory in Bayyaram.