Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel wrote a letter to the Prime Minister: requested to reconsider the decision to privatize the Nagarnar Steel Plant
Raipur, 27 August 2020. Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting to reconsider the decision to privatize the Nagarnar Steel Plant in Bastar. The Chief Minister has written in the letter – NMDC’s under-construction Nagarnar Steel Plant is likely to be commissioned in near future at a cost of more than about 20 thousand crores. With the commencement of this steel plant, the exploitation of the valuable mineral wealth of Bastar at NMDC’s Nagarnar Steel Plant at Bastar provided its indelible support in nation building and the opening of this industrial unit provided thousands of direct and indirect employment opportunities in the area. Feeling proud of the possibilities of being.
But recently, it has been reported from some newspapers and other media that the Central Government is preparing to sell the Nagarnar Steel Plant in Bastar to private people. It would be very unfortunate that the proposed public sector steel plant in tribal area of Chhattisgarh should be privatized. This step of the Central Government will hurt the hopes and aspirations of millions of tribals deeply.
The news of this kind of privatization of the Nagarnar Steel Plant has shocked the Bastarites as well as the entire state. Due to this decision of the Government of India, tribal communities are agitating and there is a feeling of dissatisfaction against the governance and administration among them. He wrote to the Prime Minister that you will be well aware that the state government has been successful in curbing Naxal activities with considerable efforts. Under these circumstances, the news of such privatization of the Nagarnar Steel Plant has shocked the Bastarites as well as the entire state. Due to this decision of the Government of India, tribal communities are agitating and there is a feeling of dissatisfaction against the governance and administration among them. You will be well aware that the state government has been successful in curbing Naxal activities with considerable efforts. In these circumstances, the possibility of Naxalites taking undue advantage of tribal discontent cannot be ruled out due to privatization of the Nagarnar Steel Plant.
He informed that about 610 hectares of private land has been acquired for the Nagarnar Steel Plant, which has been taken up for ‘public purpose’. With this, about 211 hectares of government land in the Nagarnar Steel Plant still belongs to the Government of Chhattisgarh. Of this, only 27 hectares of land has been given conditionally to NMDC for 30 years, the rest of the government land is owned by the Chhattisgarh government and the first condition of the land that the state government has transferred to the Industries Department is that the land by the Industries Department Will be used only for the purpose of setting up a steel plant by NMDC.
It is noteworthy that in Chhattisgarh to protect the interests of tribals and their natural rights, the PESA (Cmd.) Act, 1996 is in force. The state government is always committed to protect the interests of the tribals of Chhattisgarh. The Public Sector Undertakings were taken forward by our guide, former Prime Minister of India, Shri Jawaharlal Nehru, and seeing their importance, the Government of Chhattisgarh will always support them in their progress.
He also informed that NMDC’s 04 iron ore mines at Bailadila have been extended for the next 20 years by the state government, so that new employment opportunities will be created in Bastar region. All-round development of the region should be encouraged and the people of this region can connect with the mainstream of development.
The Chief Minister has requested the Prime Minister that the Central Government should reconsider the decision to privatize the Nagarnar Steel Plant and allow it to start functioning as a public sector enterprise as it is, so that the basic standard in improving the standard of living of the tribals of Bastar region Help.
