Kudremukh employees’ union has urged the Karnataka Government to allocate iron ore mines to Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Ltd.
Addressing presspersons here on Tuesday, Devaraj, Assistant General Secretary of the union, said that KIOCL had stopped mining in January 2006. Since then, there is no captive mine for the company to meet the requirements of its pellet manufacturing plant in Mangalore.
Since the company brings iron ore from States such as Chhattisgarh to its plant in Mangalore, it incurs heavy expenditure on transportation cost.
Though the Government had earlier allocated iron ore mines at Ramanadurga in Bellary, the company could not get hold of that mine because of the Supreme Court order on iron ore mining in the State.
KIOCL’s pellet plant in Mangalore has a capacity to process around 3.5 million tonnes of iron ore every year.
Devaraj said that the State Government must take a decision on allotting mines to the company. The company has a workforce of around 1,000 employees.
The employees’ union will organise a function to honour the Karnataka ministers from coastal region in Mangalore on July 3. The demands of the union will be brought to the notice of the State Government on that occasion, he said.
vinayak.aj@thehindu.co.in