Sponge iron units seek easy flow of raw material

BHUBANESWAR: Sponge Iron manufacturers have desperately sought the intervention of the State Government in facilitating easy and adequate flow of raw materials including iron ore and coal.There is a tremendous mismatch in demand and supply which has led to gross escalation of prices of iron ore. As a result, a trend of shutting down of industries has set in. There are about 104 sponge iron plants in the State with a total installed capacity of 15 million tonne. But with shortage of raw materials gripping the industry, only around six million tonne are being produced, the manufacturers stated.While only around 15 sponge iron plants have their own mines, the rest have to depend on OMC and to some extent the private sector. However, as only around 10 percent of the leases of OMC are operational, there is a serious short supply. "Once the OMC performs to its full potential, the situation would definitely improve. The pricing has also to be dealt with immediately by the Government", Chairman of the Orissa Sponge Iron Manufacturers Association (OSIMA) PL Mohanty told mediapersons here today.The case of coal is still worse as the sponge iron industry is given the least priority in allocation. Those having linkage have been allocated only 75 percent of their requirement and that too 50 percent of the allocation is made available. The industry has thus sought help of the Government in importing coal as a shortage of about 400 million tonne is envisaged in the country within the next five years.The Association placed these issues before the Industry Minister Raghunath Mohanty and Forests and Environment Minister Debi Prasad Mishra at its annual general meeting today. "The Ministers have assured of looking into our problems and are convening a meeting on August 3 in the connection", Mohanty said.The industries, being more increasingly entangled in pollution issues, have announced strong moves to set its house in order. "The industries are adopting technologies to comply with the regulations and upgrading their units. However, ash disposal is an area of concern. The Government should provide common disposal grounds for ash waste and provide incentives to ash utilising units", Mohanty added.