Ballari: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will take a final call on global steel giant ArcelorMittal's proposal to change the use of land allotted to the company here to set up a solar power plant instead of the steel plant, said Congress MLC K.C. Kondaiah.
“State government is likely to constitute an experts committee to decide on ArcelorMittal's proposal and then, the CM will take a final decision,” Mr Kondaiah said, while addressing a press conference here on Sunday.
He said that representatives of ArcelorMittal have conveyed to him that they are not able to set up a steel plant here unless they are provided captive mines as they were assured while entering a MoU with the state government at the global investors meet held in 2010.
When asked if it was not a violation of the MoU if they set up a solar plant instead of a steel plant, he said “It is up to the CM to decide.”
Further, he said, not only ArcelorMittal, even the proposed steel plants by the union steel ministry owned NMDC and Uttam Galva Ferrous Ltd will not come up in the Ballari region as the current domestic iron ore and steel market is not encouraging for new investments in the steel sector.
It may recalled that land losers of the ArcelorMittal project and the mining community are opposing the company's proposal to set up a solar plant in the prime land claiming that it would not generate more jobs or boost economic activity in the steel hub.
ArcelorMittal group Chief Executive Officer Sanjay Sharma and his team met Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in Bengaluru in the last week of January seeking permission to change the use of 2,800 acres of land to set up a 600 megawatt solar power plant citing the bad patch the steel sector is passing through.
