Jharkhand government may scrap MoUs with sluggish steel firms

Worried over tlead zinc ore crushingprocessing machinehe tardy progress made by the steel makers, the Jharkhand government is considering to cancel the MoUs it entered with Ispat and Bhushan Steel for setting up steel projects in the state. In the last couple of years the government has cancelled 27 of its 75 MoUs - the most recent being that of Sesa Goa.

Next in line are the MoUs of Prakash Ispat, BM Salgaocar, Sunflag Iron and Steel, Contisteel (promoted by Rathi Super steel and Orissa Sponge Iron) and Vini Iron & Steel Udyog, AP Singh, state industry secretary, said. Singh's office has already directed the mines department in the state not to recommend any mining lease for Sesa Goa. Sesa Goa declined to comment. Vedanta, which has a prospecting licence of iron ore over 7 sq km in West Singhbum area since 2004, was to invest 1,242 crore in a pig iron and coke oven plant as per an MoU it signed with the government in 2006. Jharkhand, home to one-fourth of the country's iron ore, and two large integrated steel plants at...