Set up regional offices of GSI, IBM in Andhra Pradesh, Centre urged

VIJAYAWADA: Minister for Mines and Geology and Excise Kollu Ravindra appealed to Union Minister of Coal and Mines G Kishan Reddy to establish the permanent regional offices of Geological Survey of India (GSI) and Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) in the State.

Kollu Ravindra met the Union Minister of Coal and Mines in Delhi on Tuesday and sought the Centre to set up a premier mining institute for strengthening the mining sector in the State.

Stating that the Rashtriya Ispat Nigam limited (RINL), popularly known as Vizag Steel, is one of the premier mineral-based industries in Andhra Pradesh, the Minister mentioned that the financial health and operational efficiency of RINL has significantly affected without captive Iron-Ore and coal mines.

Unlike other major public sector undertakings, which had been granted captive mines during the pre-auction regime, RINL continues to depend on market-priced iron ore and coal, leading to high production costs and financial losses, he said and added that allocating captive iron-ore and coal mines to RINL as a special case is the need of the hour.

Minister Kollu Ravindra highlighted the scope for mining of beach sand minerals (BSM) in the State and plans to develop Integrated Beach Sand Minerals Project including downstream plants for value added products, which is likely to attract investment of around Rs 10,000 crore.

He raised the allocation of three BSM areas covering 1,000 hectares against the proposals for 16 BSM areas.