Jamshedpur MP Bidyut meets Union Mines Minister, demand opening of HCL mines

Jamshedpur, Dec 16: Jamshedpur MP Bidyut Baran Mahato met Union mines minister Prahlad Joshi today and submitted two separate memorandums regarding HCL and demanded that HCL’s vindication should be done by NMDC.

Apart from this, through a second memorandum, he demanded that HCL’s Indian Copper Complex plant at Ghatshila should be started as soon as possible. In relation to Airtel’s collaboration with NMDC, Bidyut Mahato said  Hindustan Copper Limited (HCL) Indian Complex (ICC) plant has not started production till date due to poor financial condition of the company.

The MP said that Hindustan Copper Limited has not been able to recover due to the separation of HCL and NDMC from the year 1967. The erstwhile Government of Jharkhand under Raghuvar Das had also provided lease renewal and one hundred acres of land, but HCL has not yet published the tender for the said works. Due to which production work is stopped. Due to the closure of production work, there is a feeling of frustration and insecurity among the permanent employees as well as the temporary workers.. If HCL and NDMC are re-merged on this occasion, then Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s resolve of “Make in India” and “Self-reliant India” will also be fulfilled.

In the second memorandum the MP has urged to start production in the ICC Plant,

In his memorandum, he said that Hindustan Copper Limited (HCL) has the distinction of being the only integrated copper producing company in India. Unfortunately, for the last one and a half years, HCL is not doing the work.

 The Indian Copper Complex (ICC) plant at Maubhandar in Ghatshila block area of East Singhbhum district has been closed for the last one and a half years. In the ICC plant, the production work is done from the copper concentrate ore supplied from the Malajkhand unit of HCL itself.

Unfortunately, HCL has been selling copper concentrate ore for a long time, not in the ICC unit and selling it directly in the market. The ICC smelter is closed due to shortage of concentrated ore. Due to the closure of production work, there is a feeling of despair and insecurity among the permanent employees as well as the temporary workers.

 He demanded that production work should be started in Maubhandar plant soon so that the contract laborers who become unemployed can get employment again.