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LN Mittal,who had put up one of his mansions in central London for sale,has stopped its operation to set up its greenfield plant in Jharkhand,according to official sources.
“Arcellor Mittal steel officials are no longer showing any interest to set up its plant in Jharkhand”,said a senior officer of the Jharkhand’s Industry department.
Jharkhand’s Principal Secretary (Industry)AP Singh was not available for comment.In fact,launching its maiden venture in India, Mittal Steel Company in 2005 had signed an MoU with the Jharkhand government, committing to invest Rs 40,000 crore to enter mining and steel making operations in the state.
The MoU includes setting up of a 12 million tonne greenfield steel plant.
Mittal,who had come to Ranchi with his family had said the project would be developed in two phases of six million tonnes each with the first phase expected to be completed within 48 months of the agreement of the detailed project report and the second within further 54 months after completion of phase one.
The steel baron also signed two additional MoUs committing to work closely with the mineral-rich state to achieve improvement in technical skills and education to sustain the pace of industrialisation in the state.
The company would also study the possibility of setting up of a 2,500 mw power plant and a township for its employees as part of the project. Mittal, however, would not commit the amount to be invested in the power plant.
Later,the company opened its office in Ranchi.Subsequently,while it started exploring the site and the land for setting up the plant, Jharkhand and the Central government allotted the iron ore and coal mines to the company.
Though no body knows the status of these mines today,its office no longer exists.The step motherly treatment accorded by the state government and non availability of the land needed to set up the plant were the main reasons for the mega project turning dead.