New rail line should help Bayyaram Steel Plant, says Vinod Kumar

BRS leader Vinod Kumar recalled that the BRS for the last ten years was fighting for a strategic railway line that would facilitate the establishment of the steel plant as promised in Kothagudem district.

Hyderabad: Former MP and senior BRS leader Vinod Kumar on Saturday said the recently announced 173 km railway line from Pandurangapuram in Bhadradri Kothagudem district (via Bhadrachalam temple town) with Malkangiri in Odisha would help translate into reality the proposed Telangana Steel Plant at Bayyaram.

Addressing a news conference at Telangana Bhavan, he recalled that the BRS for the last ten years was fighting for a strategic railway line that would facilitate the establishment of the steel plant as promised in Kothagudem district. The NMDC had agreed in principle to set up a steel plant either at Bayyaram or any other place in the vicinity provided a rail line was built connecting the region with Bailadilla in Chhattisgarh.

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He stated that such a rail project would help in procuring iron ore from Chhattisgarh and Odisha. The Bayyaram steel plant project was not implemented so far on the ground that it lacked the sufficient raw materials, particularly iron ore available locally. It was claimed that the iron ore available in the region was of low grade and insufficient in quantity. The local iron ore deposits are estimated to be around five million tonnes, whereas the requirement for a steel plant is approximately 200 million tonnes.

The new railway line which would be opening up south Chhattisgarh and South western Odisha would emerge as a vital communication link connecting four States including East Godavari in Andhra Pradesh making iron ore and other raw material available abundantly for the Bayyaram steel plant. Now the responsibility of ensuing the implementation of Bayaram steel plant would rest mainly on the BJP MPs elected from Telangana. The BJP government at the Centre should undo the injustice meted out to the State. The Centre did not spend even Rs.10 during the last 10 years on the proposed Steel plant. It did not implement even the railway coach factory at Kazipet.

The BRS leader feared that the new rail line could also be used for depriving the region of the mineral wealth especially the iron ore deposits it was endowed with for the benefit of Gujarat or steel units elsewhere. Prime Minister Narendra Modi should ensure that the rail project would help benefit Telangana and the proposed Bayyaram steel plant. He should help foil any moves intended to deprive Telangana of its rich mineral deposits, Vinod Kumar added.