Steelmakers demand regulation of iron ore rate

Eight leading steel manufacturers met the Chief Minister, Naveen Patnaik and apprised him of the problems faced by them in the state, official sources said.

While some of them wanted that the state government facilitate lease of iron ore mines in their favour, others drew attention of the chief minister to the huge export of raw materials to other states and abroad.

"The state owned Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC) should reserve 90 per cent of iron ore and chrome ore production for iron and steel plant within the state," the team said in a memorandum.

This apart, they also demanded that the private chrome ore mining companies sell 75 per cent of their production to the state based users.

Reiterating their demand to ban export of iron ore from Orissa, they said that the state government`s decision of hiking power tariff and water tariff had also hit them.

"The state governent has already set up a ministerial committee to solve problems faced by steel makers. A decision regarding their problem will be taken soon," said Chief Secretary B K Patnaik.