BHUBANESWAR: The Chief Ministers of Orissa, Jharkhand and...

BHUBANESWAR: The Chief Ministers of Orissa, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh on Wednesday urged the Centre to freeze exports of iron ore, particularly lumps, at the current level and work out a mechanism to reduce them gradually.

This will raise the availability of iron ore to the domestic users at economic prices, they said.

In a memorandum addressed to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Orissa Chief Minister, Naveen Patnaik, his counterpart from Chhattisgarh, Raman Singh, and Jharkhand Chief Minister, Madhu Koda, said that exports of iron ore should be banned eventually. "A well thought-out transition plan has to be devised in consultation with the States having iron ore deposits and other stakeholders."

Opposing the recommendations of the Hoda Committee which said that the present regime of iron ore exports might continue for about ten years from now, they said it was desirable to impose quantitative restrictions on iron ore exports, especially on ore which has more than 60 per cent Fe (ferrous) content, to meet the raw material requirements of the steel mills coming up in the three States and elsewhere in the country.

The joint memorandum was singed at a conclave of the three Chief Ministers held at the State Secretariat here on the initiative of Mr. Patnaik. The Chief Secretaries of the three States also attended the meeting.

Referring to the Hoda Committee report, the Chief Ministers said certain suggestions, if accepted for implementation, would have adverse impact on the ongoing process of industrial development in the three States. "Certain recommendations have also been made to curtail the powers of the States, which they have been exercising for the past 50 years."

The meeting also demanded that the Centre should ensure continuation of reservation of ore bodies for exploitation by the State PSUs and revision of royalty on iron ore, coal and other minerals.

Mr. Patnaik told presspersons that the three of them along with their counterparts from at least two more States would meet the Prime Minister shortly to apprise him about the issues raised by them.

In another memorandum, they demanded enactment of a separate Central legislation or making suitable amendments in an existing Act to make room for levy of duty on generation of power by the States and allocation of an appropriate portion of power generated to the host State at variable cost.

The current practice involved a net transfer of resource, and that too, from the poorer and less developed States to the more developed States.

Stating that the existing arrangements prohibited the States from levying any duty or tax on generation and production of electricity, which was recognised as good in the eye of the law, the Chief Ministers said that this had created a difficult situation where electricity was produced primarily for the purpose of sale outside their boundaries.