The government of the eastern Indian state of West Bengal has communicated to the federal ministry of steel seeking an immediate reversal of the decision of Indian state-run steelmaker Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) to wind up its Raw Materials Division (RMD) located in the state, a government official said on Thursday, June 17.
Though SAIL has not yet officially announced the decision to wind up RMD, the official said that the West Bengal government cited media reports in its opposition to the move.
The West Bengal government opposes the move of SAIL to wind up RMD, which was in charge of operating the captive iron ore mines of the steel producer, as such a move would leave two SAIL steel mills, Durgapur and Burnpur, located in the state without any captive iron ore mines.
Sources at SAIL said that the winding up of RMD will be followed up by putting its captive iron ore mines under the operational control of its Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) in Odisha and Bokaro Steel Plant (BSP) in Jharkhand.
The move would see the iron ore mines of Bolani, Taldih and Barua put under the administrative and operational charge of RSP, and the iron ore mines of Chiria, Megathaburu, Kiriburu, Gua, and Kuteswar under the charge of BSP, the sources said
The West Bengal government in its communication with the ministry of steel has argued that winding up a central mine operator like RMD and handing over captive mines to RSP and BSP will leave SAIL’s steel mills at Durgapur and Burnpur “in a lurch and these mills will have to source raw materials from merchant mines, resulting in higher cost and a negative impact on operational viabilities.”