Ballari: Steel major, ArcelorMittal’s decision to scrap its proposal to set up a six million tonnes per annum (MTPA) steel mill in Ballari and establish a solar plant in its place has not gone down well with the local mining community and farmers who gave up their land for the steel project.
The company was given around 2,800 acres for establishing the integrated steel mill near Kudathini-Veniveerapura, about 20kms from here by the state government. But ArcelorMittal group Chief Executive Officer Sanjay Sharma and his team met Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in late January asking to use the land instead for a 600 MW solar power plant, claiming that the steel industry was going through a bad phase.
While Mr Siddaramaiah reportedly assured the delegation that he would discuss the matter with his officials and ministers, locals here are in no mood to accept the change in plan. “We don’t need a global steel giant like ArcelorMittal to install solar panels here. Anyone can do that. We want his expertise in steel- making,” says Mr Hothur Mohammed Iqbal, secretary of the Ballari-Hosapete-Sandur Iron Ore Miners’ Association.
He points out that the Ballari-Koppal region is the 'steel corridor' of Karnataka with abundant iron ore reserves, water linkages, vast tracts of non-agricultural land, and good connectivity to ports. Farmers , who parted with their land in the hope of jobs in the proposed steel mill, are also now afraid the company may not be able to provide them employment on the solar farm. “We sacrificed our land in the hope of getting a guaranteed source of livelihood and are now feeling duped,” says Mr Ramappa, a farmer from Kudathini.
But ArcellorMittal sources say the Ballari mining scam has discouraged it from establishing a steel mill in the district although it has done all the ground work for it already. The recession in China and the poor state of the steel industry too has forced it do a rethink, they explain.
