Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas and Steel Dharmendra Pradhan during his visit to Jharkhand stressed on giving priority to small companies for raw material procurements. The steel clusters development in states like Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal which Minister spelled out as one of his priorities is based on iron ore availability in this region. Planning first tour after assuming charge as Steel Minister to Jharkhand, visiting mines, steel plants and advising SAIL to give priority to small companies reaffirms Minister’s commitment to take both public as well as private sector along. In an earlier letter written to steel sector employees Pradhan stressed on a spirit of teamwork to contribute towards India’s growth story.
The stress he has given on reopening of closed mines, and the pursuant necessary directions he issued to the officials points to the fact that this remains one of his priority areas. Reopening of closed mines will further lead to growth of steel sector and will benefit small companies too.
It is notable that during his tour to Jharkhand Pradhan asked SAIL officials, district administration, Mines department to present a time bound roadmap for reopening of closed mines. This has generated hope not only in Jharkhand but also among businesses engaged in Steel industry in neighbouring states of Odisha and Chattisgarh which have been facing challenges due to headwinds being faced by global steel industry.