The Andhra Pradesh government has decided to allot 5,324 hectares of iron ore mines to Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP), a Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd enterprise. These mines are located at Bayyaram in Khammam district (2,500 hectares), Gudur in Warangal district (2,500 ha) and Bhimadevarapalli in Karimnagar district (324 ha). The Visakhapatnam Steel Plant has come forward to set up an integrated steel plant and benefaction plant at Bayyaram following which the mines were allotted, a press release from the Chief Minister’s Office today said. The iron ore mines at Bayyaram were originally allotted to Rakshana Steels, an alleged benami firm of the late Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy’s son-in-law Anil Kumar. But as they fell in tribal area, the Centre cancelled the mining lease and subsequently the state government too cancelled the allotment to Rakshana. PTI
