K'taka welcomes SC directive on releasing iron ore

New Delhi : Delhi 04 Sep 11 | 12:07 PM:The Karnataka's steel industry, hit hard by shortage of iron ore, has welcomed the Supreme Court's direction to release 1.5 million tonne of the raw material every month through e-auction.This will increase the total supply to the industry to 2.5 million tonne per month as the state-run NMDC has been allowed to do mining of up to one million tonne a month.

The apex court had earlier banned mining in Karnataka's Bellary, Tumkur and Chitradurga districts due to large scale environmental degradation of the areas.

On Friday, however, it had accepted the recommendations of the Central Empowered Committee (CEC), which had said that 1.5 MT iron ore per month can be released for the industry through e-auction route from the stock of 25.88 million tonne, lying at the mines in the state.