Maha plans steel township in Naxal-hit Gadchiroli

Shiv Kumar

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, January 22

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has decided to go ahead with a proposal of his predecessor Devendra Fadnavis to set up a steel township in Naxal-hit Gadchiroli district, according to state government sources here.

Earlier this week, Minister for Public Works Eknath Shinde, who is the guardian minister for Gadchiroli, visited officials in the district and discussed construction of a township on the lines of Bhilai or Jamshedpur. Sources say, the Maharashtra Government is open to the plant being set up either in the private or the public sector.

As per the original proposal made by the then BJP government in the state, a mega steel plant was proposed in Surjagad where mining of iron ore was permitted in 2007. However, the project received a setback in 2013 when Maoist guerrillas gunned down executives of the private company which bagged the licences to mine iron ore.

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, who hails from the Vidarbha region of which Gadchiroli is a part, had mooted the idea of the Tatas building a steel township on the lines of Jamshedpur.

Sources say Surjagad has huge reserves of iron ore and coal, both of which are essential for steel production.

According to the Nagpur-based Chamber of Associations of Maharashtra Industry & Trade (CAMIT), iron ore reserves in Surjagad is estimated at 180 MT while nearly 5,000 MT of coal is estimated to be available in Nagpur and Chandrapur districts nearby.

While the state government will be responsible for acquiring land for the project rehabilitating the people living in the area, granting of mining leases and environmental clearances is the subject of the Central Government, according to officials.