Nagpur: Amid the state government's efforts to boost mining activities to create jobs in the Naxalite-infested Gadchiroli district, the going has been slow for Lloyds Metals and Energy Limited (LMEL). It is the only entity operating an iron ore mine in the district. The mine is located at Surjagargh area which is rich in iron ore deposits.
In nearly a year, LMEL's mine has been operational for barely a couple of months. On December 23 2016, Naxalites had burned down 70 vehicles at the site and the losses were pegged at Rs13 crore. The operations were revived in February but since then, the progress has been slow. "In any given day when operations are on, the company employs around 300 persons," says sources.
Since February, mines were operational for less than 60 days with 50,000 tons of ore extracted. This means, in 10 months, LMEL has extracted iron ore only enough to meet a month's requirement of its proposed plant in Aheri Taluka of the district. It plans to come up with a sponge iron plant using the ore mined from Surjagarh.
LMEL got the mining licence at Surjagarh in 2007 but the operations could not continue due to Naxalite threat. In 2013, an officer of vice-president's rank was killed. Two years ago, mining was started under police protection. Despite that, only minimal amount of ore has been extracted.
Mining as well as transport of the ore take place only under police protection. Troops escort the workers at mining area as well as the trucks going out with the ore. Sources say the protection could not be available for the transport on a regular basis, due to which the mining was also hampered. Even as there is police presence at the mine area, protections is not available on a regular basis for the transport. Apart from it, mines are also closed during the rainy season till October. In December, the ore was transported for four days and mining took place for a week, said sources.
The company is also building a 6km road connecting the mine on which the work has not been completed yet.
Abhinav Deshmukh, superintendent of police (SP) in Gadchiroli told TOI, "For providing protection to the transport party on a regular basis, police posts need to be set up in the area. For this, the road needs to be constructed first. The road is being constructed by the company."
"The material for constructing the road comes from outside Gadchiroli. Since the protection for transporting the ore is available only on limited days, even the material is brought in on the days when police presence is there. This has delayed the construction of road," said a sources.
A company spokesperson refused to comment on the issue. At present the escort is decided as and when decided by the company and police.
