BANGALORE: Hit hard by the non-supply of iron ore triggered by the blanket ban on mining in Karnataka, representatives of the steel industry on Wednesday met Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda and other senior officials and requested them to come to their rescue by pleading before the Supreme Court to expedite its process of evolving a system to regulate mining.Representatives of Karnataka Iron and Steel Manufacturers Association (KISMA) led by Sajjan Jindal, the vice chairman and MD of JSW Steel, which has one of the biggest steel manufacturing units in Bellary district, held a detailed meeting with the state government and explained in detail about the problems being faced by the industry due to the shortage of iron ore and the delay being caused in carrying out e-auction of iron ore as directed by the SC.Among others, the prominent demands of the steel industry include - to ensure continuous supply of iron ore from NMDC under a long term supply contract, increase the frequency of the e-auction and if possible conduct it every day, allot captive mines to existing steel plants and allow mining in mines which are legal.Speaking to media persons after the meeting, Jindal said the steel industry was in a big fix and if it was not addressed immediately, the manufacturers would be left with no other option but closure. While referring to his own plant, Jindal said that the plant was operating only 30 per cent of its capacity due to the shortage of raw material. The total demand of iron ore in Karnataka is aroung 85000 tonnes per day, whereas the supply is not even half of it, Jindal said.Stating that the steel industry was not opposed to the measures taken by the SC to check illegal mining, Jindal said that the cleansing act should however, be done stage by stage that too while allowing operations. “Fix the problemwhile allowing steel plants to operate,” he added. On the e-action of iron ore, Jindal said that the industry would welcome the step but not its pace of implementation which was very slow. “Since we need iron ore on a daily basis, the frequency of the e-auction should be more. So we have requested the monitoring committee of the SC to increase the frequency.”Further, he said that one should look at the e-action as a short-term measure as it would not be viable for the industry in the long run.“On its part the state government has responded positively to our demands and has assured that it would file an affidavit before the SC to expedite its process,” Jindal said.
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