Hyderabad: Industries minister KT Rama Rao on Tuesday said that the Telangana government will decide whether to participate in the bidding for Vizag Steel Plant (VSP) after a report is submitted by the team of officials who are currently in Visakhapatnam.
Speaking to the media minister KTR said that steel plants can be set up in both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh if Bailadila is freed from the clutches of Adani.
Responding to state Bharatiya Janata Pary (BJP) chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar’s accusations that the Telangana government is more interested in VSP in Andhra Pradesh than it is in Bayyaram Steel Plant (BSP) in the state, the Industries minister said that Bailadila is the connection between both the plants.
“Bailadila is at a distance of 150 KMs from BSP and 600 KMs from VSP. It has 134 crore metric tons of Iron ore. It is the nucleus of both the steel plants,” said KCR.
He said that through the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, the Central government had promised to explore the formation of an integrated steel plant in Bayyaram through Steel Authority Of India Limited (SAIL).
“The chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao has written many letters to the Centre regarding the steel plant. I also met with prime minister Narendra Modi and told him that if it is not feasible to have a steel plant due to the quality of the iron ore in Bayyaram then we can bring iron ore from Bailadila through a slurry pipe. We told them that the state is ready to bear 50 percent of the expenses for this,” said the minister.
He said that in 2018, the Centre’s cabinet decided to supply iron ore from Bailadila to POSCO, a Korean company. “Centre had said that the Korean company is examining VSP in order to use iron ore from Bailadila. However, POSCO set up an integrated steel plant in Gujrat with Rs 40,000 crores,” said KTR.
He alleged that the central government had cheated the steel plant in Visakhapatnam with this move.
He questioned how it was feasible to set up a steel plant in Mundra which is 1800 km from Bailadila but not in Visakhapatnam or Bayyaram which are 600 km and 150 km away, respectively.
He said that Adani also opened a shop for iron ore in Bailadilla with the name ‘Bailadila Iron Ore Mining Pvt Ltd’. “Now the Centre is looking to sell VSP to Adani for pennies. If we can save Bailadila from the clutches of Adani, we will be able to have steel plants in both the Telugu states,” said the minister.
The industries minister of Telangana accused the Central government of ‘Socialising the losses and privatising the profits’.
KTR further alleged that the BJP-led government in the Centre is trying to hand over the Public Sector Units (PSU) which are ‘Navaratnas’ to their corporate friends the ‘two Gujarat ratnas’, referring to Adani and Ambani.
KTR informed that a team of officials is presently in VSP and that they will report back with their findings. The Telangana government will soon take a decision on bidding for the VSP based on the report, he said.
“This is not the first time a state government will be expressing interest in a PSU from another state. The Gujrat Mineral Development Corporation has participated in the biddings and won the Barapuhar block in Orissa,” said KTR.
| Posted by K Sherly Sharon | 
