To secure mining sector, Devendra Fadnavis asks Centre to increase paramilitary deployment

In a bid to push the stagnant iron ore mining sector in Naxal affected Gadchiroli district, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday asked union home minister Rajnath Singh to increase deployment of security forces in order to secure the iron rich region. Naxal violence affected Gadchiroli has a forest cover of nearly 78 per cent which has 180MT of iron ore deposits out of the total 270MT iron ore reserves in the state.

Fadnavis met the home minister along with union transport and shipping minister Nitin Gadkari, union chemical and fertilizer minister Hansraj Ahir, Gadchiroli MP Ashok Nete and the region's guardian minister Raje Ambrish Atram. Speaking to reporters after their meeting, Fadnavis said, "Gadchiroli is mineral rich and along with mining we also want to push for setting up of industries to process the minerals. For that, we discussed as to how much additional security is required." The CM added, "We also want to impart skill training to local tribal youth to include them in this development process and along side a strong road network should also be in place."

Three major players - Lloyd Steel, Jindal Steel Works (JSW) and Ajanta Minerals - have lined up their projects in Gadchiroli's mineral rich regions of Surjagarh hills, Damkodvadavi hills and Agri Maseli. Locals are protesting the projects on the grounds that they will wipe out majority of forests without much social and economic benefit.

The naxals inflicted a body blow to mining companies in the region in June 2013, when they shot dead Lloyd Steel Vice President Jaspal Singh Dhillon, 61, a contractor and a Surjagarh resident at Surjagarh, near the company's steel plant. According to local activists who did not wish to be named, the Surjagarh resident Raju Sedmake was killed as he was seen a conduit of the company, who was trying to persuade villagers to give a nod for the mining project.

At present, only Lloyd has obtained licences to mine while JSW is yet to obtain licences to begin work. In the past few weeks, the CM also carried out a review meeting with top police officials, collectors of Gondia and Gadchiroli along with Nitin Gadkari. This meeting was a prelude to the CM's meeting with the home minister to present the action plan for making an industrial push in Gadchiroli.

Speaking to the dna after Thursday's meeting, Gadchiroli collector Ranjit Kumar said, "Our plans will focus on inclusion of locals in the mining and processing sector by way of providing them employment and skill training. We are trying to push for job creation by attracting investment for steel plants. Along side, we are also extending rail heads and connectivity between the district and Andhra Pradesh."