By scrapping the Bayyaram mining leases in Khammam district and announcing a decision to hand them over to the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy queered the pitch for the Telangana Rashtra Samithi and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP).
In fact, the TDP, which has been crying hoarse over the allocation of Bayyaram mining leases for quite sometime, was caught napping when the State Government announced its decision. Aside from this, the State Government announced that it would insist the Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL), the public sector company that runs the Vizag Steel Plant, to establish a benification plant and also a steel plant in Khammam district.
It is a political smelter that dominated the area, more than the reserves of the quality ore. When was the existence of iron ore detected in Bayyaram and the surrounding areas and why has the exploitation of it been invariably at a snail’s pace? What is the quality of the ore and how much could be extracted per tonne of ore mined? What does the Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) status report say about this?
YS Rajasekhara Reddy had allegedly ensured that the rights on the sale of ore were given to Rakshana Steels, the Kiran Kumar Reddy Government scrapped the pact between Rakshana Steels and the Andhra Pradesh Mining Development Corporation which got the prospecting licence for mining in Bayyaram.
It was alleged t hat YSR’s son-in-law Anil Kumar was the promoter of Rakshana Steels, though the latter denied it. Even YSR’s daughter Sharmila denied having any stake in the Bayyaram mines. That said, let us assume that the charges levelled by the Telugu Desam leaders were true. Even then, how much has Rakshana Steels benefited out of this so far?
Meanwhile, after the Congress raised a bogie against the YSR’s family and could muster support for this “act of kindness” from the TDP, the State Government scrapped the deal. But, a few months after, the decision to hand over the mining to RINL kicked up a regional row. The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) began saying that the VSP should not take away the mined ore from Bayyaram.
The Telugu Desam hurriedly began its exercise and called on the Chief Minister too to “thank him” for his gesture and “conceding” their demand of setting up a steel plant in Khammam district. TDPP leader Nama Nageswara Rao claimed credit for the Bayyaram issue at the top of his voice. Tummala Nageswara Rao said that the credit for the State Government’s decision to scrap the mining leases must be ascribed to the TDP.
The TRS wanted the mines be handed over to Singareni Collieries Company Ltd. The TDP demoed more lung power in claiming credit for a non-existent project which will have to pass through a myriad hurdles including an environmental clearance, forest clearance, water linkage, coal linkage, and prospecting licence.
The wordy duel between the TRS and the TDP are just the bubbles popping out of the gas-filled issue.
Nowhere in India had a steel plant been established in or near the mining fields. For, the richness of the ore could be exploited for several years and the extent spreads in vast areas either in contiguous tracts of land or the ore might be present at different locations in the same geography.
Where does the Tata Iron and Steel Co get its iron ore from? Why is the NMDC Ltd, a navratna PSU, still is aggressively pursuing permission for prospecting licences in Chattisgarh even as it is importing the ore ad coal for captive consumption and also sale to companies in the steel manufacturing. Why is Steel Authority of India Ltd pursuing its cause for securing more prospecting licences in the yet-to-be-exploited locations?
Do these politicians have any idea on the quality of the ore at Bayyaram?
The report put out by Geological Survey of India has a detailed and comprehensive analysis on the availability, quality, quantity, spread of iron ore in the forms of Haematite and magnetite. The Geological explanation of iron ore presence in the State — in most parts of the State — is detailed in the report from pages 21 to 34. Most other States have richer reserves with greater extent.
“Major iron ore deposits in India, distributed in five zones designated as Zone – I to ZoneV, have been identified in the country on commercial ground (Plate – I). Zone-I group of iron ore deposits occur on the Bonai Iron Ore Ranges of Jharkhand and Orissa states and in the adjoining areas in Eastern India, Zone-II group comprises the iron ore deposits in the long (225 km.) North-south trend in linear belt in central India comprising the states of Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra (East), Zone – III deposits occur in Bellary-Hospet Regions of Karnataka while the Zone – IV deposits cover the rich magnetitic deposits of Bababudan-Kudremukh area of the same state in south India. Zone – V deposits cover iron ore of Goa state. In addition, in south India magnetite rich banded magnetite quartzites occur in parts of Andhra Pradesh near the East Coast while in Tamilnadu good deposits of magnetite occur in Salem district and in neighbouring areas.”
Now, T Harish Rao of the TRS talked about the exploitation of natural resources of Telangana region. In the generic and rhetorical view taken by the TRS, people from Andhra have been consistently depriving Telangana region of its resources and usurping its benefits. Let us agree that the contention of the TRS is right, for some time.
Instead of explaining to the people the factual position in an understandable language, the State Government just tried to blow the lid off the Bayyaram bottle and let the genie emerge out of it.
Now, the TDP, the TRS and the Congress, the YSR Congress and the Communists began messing around Bayyaram mines. And, Kiran Kumar Reddy successfully diverted the attention of the politicians deep into the mines. But, his problems are far from over, even after assuring the TDP of establishing a steel plant in Khammam, in the stretches of ore, and buying time. Because, he is a Congress Chief Minister and he has more nuisance billowing out of the smolders of dissidence and regionalism.
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