MINING AND INDUSTRIALISATION UPDATE, ORISSA - Vasundhara

MONTH-AUGUSTPlan to privatiseFerrochrome, Kalinga IronWorks droppedPNS, 1 August, 2008The State Government has dropped theprivatisation move of Ferrochrome plant atJajpur and Kalinga Iron Works Ltd inBarbil. These two plants are functioningunder the Industrial DevelopmentCorporation of Orissa Ltd (IDCOL). Adecision to this effect was taken at a highlevel meeting presided over by ChiefSecretary Ajit Kumar Tripathy on Thursday.In 2004-05, the Cabinet sub-committeedecided that companies functioning underIDCOL would be privatised. As per theplan, IDCOL Cement at Bargarh, SpinningMill at Baripada, Aska, Sonepur, HirkudIron Works, Hira Cables, Hira Re-RollingMills were disinvested. IDCOL MD AshokMeena said as both the companies startedmaking profit, the Government had decidednot to go for disinvestment plan forFerrochrome and Kalinga Irons Works Ltd.The accumulated loss which reached to thetune of Rs 200 crore, has started to decline.Out of it, Rs 105 crore was already paid. Outof the rest 95 crore, the Government owesRs 70 crore. Both the Ferrochrome and IronWorks have already won. The turnover ofthe companies during the financial year hasalready reached Rs 750 crore. It would makea profit of Rs 175 crore. (188)MLAs give Naveen formula tocheck mineral theftPNS, 1 August, 2008Worried over the rising theft of rich mineralresources of the State, MLAs cutting acrossparty lines, submitted innovative proposalsto Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik onThursday on how to save minerals worthhundreds of crores of rupees from beinglooted. Around 14 MLAs signed a documentand submitted it to the Chief Minister. Theysuggested rewards must be given to theinformers, who pass vital information on thepilferage of rich minerals as per the rule ofOrissa Minerals (Prevention of theft,smuggling and illegal mining and regulationof possession, storage, trading andtransportation rules)-2007. "We would liketo suggest that if the sale proposals to theextent of 35 per cent of the seized miningmaterials may be rewarded to theinstitutions/ villagers and persons, whoinform the authorised officials duringclandestine transaction of the miningmaterials, either by vehicle or manually, bypersons, the efforts made by theGovernment, would become successful,"they said. They also suggested that theinformers, who desire not to reveal theirnames or to keep his identity secret overtelephone, may be accepted and the codenumber given to him receive reward withinone month of the dissemination ofinformation. In all mining offices, 24 hourscontrol rooms are required to be openedwith ID phone and squad party in readiness.Also 15 per cent of the sale proceeds of theseized materials may be given to the miningofficials or police officials, who proceed tothe spot and seize theft materials. IfGovernment accepts all the proposals andimplements it, about Rs 5,000 crore worth oftheft of mining material can be stoppedwithin two to three years," they said. TheMLAs who signed the documents includedBrindaban Majhi, Prafulla Mallick, BKArukh, Baidhar Mallick, SahibhusanBehera, Arun De, Sambhunath Naik, SatyaBhusan Sahu, Draupadi Majhi, Sadan NayakNarayan Reddy Pratap Chandra Sarangi andBir Sipka. The MLAs who signed thedocuments included Brindaban Majhi,Prafulla Mallick, BK Arukh, BaidharMallick, Sahibhusan Behera, Arun De,Sambhunath Naik, Satya Bhusan Sahu,Draupadi Majhi, Sadan Nayak Narayan22