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Telangana stays away from bidding for RINL’s raw material supply
As the deadline for submission of bids, closed at 3pm on Thursday, as many as 29 firms -- including seven international companies – submitted their bids.
The Telangana government on Thursday stayed away from bidding for the expression of interest in supplying raw material and provision of working capital for Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), also known as Visakhapatnam Steel Plant in Andhra Pradesh.
As the deadline for submission of bids, which was extended by five more days, closed at 3pm on Thursday, as many as 29 firms -- including seven international companies – submitted their bids, said a senior employee of the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant and trade union leader J Ayodhya Ramu said in a statement.
“The Singareni Collieries Company Limited, owned by the Telangana government, did not submit its bid as announced earlier. Even central government firms like National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) or Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) which initially showed interest, did not take part in the bidding,” he said.
Ramu said the bidding assumed significance in the wake of shortage of raw material and working capital for the restarting of third blast furnace of the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant.
“It has been 17 months since the furnace which can produce liquid steel of 2.5 million tonnes per year was shut down for want of raw material. If it can be revived, the steel plant can work to its full potential and achieve a turnover of ₹35,000 crore by the end of 2023-24 financial year,” he said.
As per the notification issued by the RINL on March 27, the RINL management has called for bids to supply raw material, like coking coal and iron ore, besides arranging working capital, in lieu of supply of steel products as per mutually agreed terms and conditions.
The initial deadline for submission of bids was April 15 and it was later extended to April 20.
The Telangana government announced its intention to take part in the bidding for supplying raw material to the Vizag steel plant through state-run Singareni Collieries Company Ltd or through Telangana State Mineral Development Corporation.
A team of officials from Singareni even visited the Vizag Steel Plant last week and held discussions with the RINL management and also trade unions to study the feasibility of bidding for the raw material supply.
“But by the time of closure of deadline, there was no communication from the Telangana government,” Ayodhya Ramu said.
Senior BJP leader and Rajya Sabha member G V L Narasimha Rao demanded that the Telangana government should apologise to the steel plant workers for misleading them by claiming that it was bidding for the supply of raw material for the RINL.
“The Telangana government sought to create an impression that by bidding for supply of raw material, it is going to acquire the entire steel plant, obviously to score a point over the BJP government at the centre. But now, it has backtracked on bidding,” he criticised.
Bharat Rashtra Samithi leaders or the Singareni Collieries officials could not be reached for a comment.
