Scrap Bailadila deal, give it to PSUs in Telangana & AP: KT Rama Rao to Centre

HYDERABAD: Industry minister KT Rama Rao on Tuesday accused the BJP government at the Centre of conspiring against the two Telugu states and awarding Bailadila iron ore mining contract to a company owned by Adani Group.
KTR demanded that the Centre cancel the contract given to Adani's company and give it to the PSUs in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, paving way for revival of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) and setting up of Bayyaram steel plant in Telangana.
The Bailadila mines have 134 crore metric tonnes of iron ore reserves, the market value of which is 6 lakh crore. The Bailadila mines should be dedicated captive mines for Bayyaram steel plant and VSP, he said.
The BRS leader challenged the BJP to file a defamation case against him if his allegations that the BJP government conspired against the interests of two Telugu states were wrong. "The (Narendra) Modi government wants to privatise the VSP now. As per 2014 AP State Reorganisation Act, a steel plant was to be set up in AP's Kadapa along with the Bayyaram plant," he said.
"In the beginning, we could not comprehend the conspiracy when the BJP government had previously claimed that setting up a steel plant in Bayyaram was not feasible due to low grade iron ore quality. We suggested laying a 160-km slurry pipeline from Bailadila to Bayyaram with the state government sharing 50% of the cost. Later, after the contract was given to Adani company, it became clear why the central government did not set up the Bayyaram steel plant despite repeated pleas by CM K Chandrasekhar Rao and me as a mining minister," he said.
KTR said despite SAIL, NMDC, TSMDC and APMDC's presence, the Modi government was keen on handing over the mining contract to Adani Group. The policy of the BJP government is to push the PSUs into losses and hand it over to its corporate friends. Now, they want to privatise VSP and hand it over to Adani group. "The Centre wants to hand over all the Navratna companies to its two 'ishtaratnas' (two corporate friends from Gujarat)," he alleged.
Stating that Bailadila is only 160 km from Bayyaram and 600 km from Visakhapatnam, KTR said the central government gave the contract to Adani-owned company to exploit the iron ore available there for supply to a steel factory which Adani has planned at Gujarat's Mundra in a joint venture with a South Korean company. "What is feasible? Transporting ore to Adani Group's plant at Mundra which is 1,800 km away or to Bayyaram and VSP?" he wondered.
KTR further said: "The BRS government is committed to saving PSUs and has sent a team of officials for the expression of interest floated by SAIL for VSP. Based on their reports and feasibility of the project, the Telangana government will take a final decision on bidding for VSP," he said.