Centre did it to favour Adani: BRS
NAVEENA GHANATE
Hyderabad
The BRS said that Telangana was denied a steel plant to help the Adani Group. Telangana wrote to the Centre for iron ore from Bailadilla for the steel plant as per the promise in the AP Reorganisation Act but the ore was handed over to Adani.
Telangana State Mineral Development Corporation Chairman Manne Krishank accused Prime Minister Modi of handing over Bailadila iron ore to help his friend Gautam Adani so that he can build his own steel mill business.
“In the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, Telangana was promised the Bayyaram Steel Plant but the Centre continued to ignore the issue even though the Government of Telangana wrote numerous letters regarding the promise. One such letter sent in 2015 was written by the Government of Telangana to the Centre seeking a pipeline from Bailadilla to Bayyaram for setting up the steel plant. What we have to observe is that on April 25, 2018, the Union Cabinet decided to export iron ore from Bailadila to South Korean company Posco,” Krishank said.
“The interesting part is that on Sept. 20, 2018, Modi’s friend Adani took over Bailadila Iron Ore Mine. This deal of the Centre handing over the Bailadila Iron Ore for mining to Adani doesn’t end here. Prime Minister Modi met POSCO CEO Kwon Oh-Joon and after that Adani signed a USD 5 billion business deal to set up a steel mill in collaboration with POSCO,” he added.
Krishank said that while states like Telangana demand that the Centre should keep its promise to set up a steel plant, Modi handed over Biladila iron ore to his friend Adani for his own steel mill business.
Industries Minister KT Rama Rao hailed the expose by Krishank saying, “Now we know the reason why the Modi Government did not want to honour the promise made in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act to set up an integrated steel plant at Bayyaram. Shame that his crony’s interests outweigh the nation’s for Modiji.”
