Govt. seeks steel at ‘old rates’

Housing Secretary Chitra Ramachandran on Tuesday appealed to all the manufacturers of steel to supply the material at the ‘old rates’ as was agreed upon earlier for the construction of double bed room houses being taken up by the Government for poor and needy.

At a meeting with senior officials including Municipal Commissioner B. Janardhan Reddy, Commercial Taxes Commissioner Anil Kumar, Mines Director Sunil Kumar, Additional Commissioner (GHMC) Bharat Holikeri and steel firm owners, she also assured them of considering their demand for enhancement of the rates by another ₹3,000 to ₹5,000 per tonne by taking it up with the government.

The steel manufacturers have been directed to coordinate with the nodal officers and commercial tax officers for speedy supply of the steel required so as to enable the government to complete the housing programme in a time-bound manner. The meeting was held as the construction progress was affected by the delay in steel supply.

The steel manufacturers too gave a representation to the Government to enhance rates of the steel which have increased exponentially in recent times. Following a meeting with the Chief Secretary and others, they had agreed to supply steel at the existing rate of ₹43,000 per tonne.

Later, Ministers K.T. Rama Rao and Indrakaran Reddy too held a meeting with the iron manufacturers last month when it was agreed that the supply of steel will be at ₹9,440 per tonne less than that of the market value, a press release said.