The Tata Steel Managing Director, Mr H. M. Nerurkar, today said there should be a change in the policy on allotment of mines and mine leases should be granted first to industries engaged in value addition.
“I have been demanding a drastic change in the policy on allotment of mines and the prevailing auction of mine blocks (coal blocks) exists nowhere in the world except India,” Mr Nerurkar told newspersons in reply to a question.
Whether the industries vying for mining leases were contributing to the country should be taken into consideration before granting mining leases, he said.
He said industries engaged in value addition downstream and those that were creating jobs should get mining leases first.
Nobody was bothered about the mining sector, especially iron-ore, till early 2000, but a spurt in activities has been witnessed with the boom of the industrial sector after 2003-04, he said.
He suggested that small players in the mining sector should form co-operatives for smooth functioning of the sector.
Referring to the private steel major’s proposed steel plant in Karnataka, he said negotiations with the Karnataka Government were in the final stages. “But we are not yet sure about the nature of land to be allotted to us.”