Summary:
"We also request the Centre to set up the steel factory at Bayyaram," he said then.When the Centre came up with the proposal in January, Mecon was engaged to conduct a feasibility study and submit a final report on the feasibility of the steel plants in Bayyaram and Kadapa. Contending that Chhattisgarh-Bailadila railway line can be utilised for the Bayyaram steel plant, it says transporting iron ore from NMDC Bailadila mine would be an easy proposition as it is only 155 km away from Bayyaram.In fact, when Union steel minister Chaudhary Birender Singh talked about the re-opening the iron factory in Paloncha in Bhadradri district in January, IT minister KT Rama Rao had welcomed the Centre's proposal to re-open the Paloncha factory. HYDERABAD/VIJAYAWADA: With the Centre expressing its inability to set up steel plants in Bayyaram in Telangana and Kadapa in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh on the grounds that they are not feasible, the long-pending demand of a steel plant in Telangana may remain a pipe dream.While the Centre's move stirred a political storm in Andhra Pradesh with its chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu charging the Narendra Modi government with discriminating against his state, Telangana continues to nurse a hope against hope that the Centre will keep its promise made during bifurcation.In fact, Telangana argues that iron ore and coal are being transported from NMDC Bailadila mine, a distance of 450 km, to serve the Vizag Steel Plant. There was also a plan to have 1.5 million tonne (MT) per annum electric arc furnace (EAF) plant at Paloncha.A task force was constituted in October 2016 comprising representatives from the Central and state governments, SAIL, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC), Mecon Limited and MSTC to consider the feasibility issues and prepare a road map for setting up integrated steel plants.Meanwhike, Chandrababu Naidu is likely to meet officials of the Union steel ministry and urge them to reconsider their decision when he visits New Delhi next week to attend a meeting of chief ministers convened by the Niti Aayog..