ArcelorMittal officials greet chief minister Shibu Soren at his residence in Ranchi on Friday. Picture by Manik Bose

Ranchi, Jan. 15: Steel major ArcelorMittal today reiterated its commitment to Jharkhand, reiterating its plan to set up a 12MT steel mill and assuring chief minister Shibu Soren that it had no desire to scale down the over Rs 40,000 crore project.

“We are committed to the Jharkhand project. We met the chief minister, who has taken charge recently, to congratulate him in the New Year. He asked us to go ahead with our plans,” M.P. Singh, the company’s vice-president (mining), told The Telegraph after meeting Soren and other senior government officials at his Morabadi residence.

On land and compensation that had stalled the Greenfield project in the state — as in Orissa, too — Singh agreed it was a critical issue. He, however, promised to abide by the government’s rehabilitation and relief policy, besides trying to gain the confidence of villagers.

There were fears that the largest steel producer in the world would either scale down or call off its plans in Jharkhand and Orissa after it announced a 6MT project in Karnataka by investing Rs 30,000 crore.

But today’s meeting with the chief minister and Singh’s statement seemed to indicate that ArcelorMittal wasn’t abandoning the Jharkhand project that has been floundering in the face of protests by villagers of Torpa and Kamdara, the proposed site in the state.

State industry secretary N.N. Sinha seemed relieved and said the representatives of ArcelorMittal did express their commitment towards the proposed Greenfield project in Jharkhand. “They appeared positive,” he said.

ArcelorMittal had deposited Rs 12.39 crore with the Gumla district administration against transfer of around 1,000 acre land in 2009. A company official insisted there was no change in plans to set up the unit in the Torpa and Kamdara region falling under Khunti and Gumla districts, respectively.

The company also has mining leases to possible deposits of approximately 60 million tonnes of iron ore in the Karampada area of West Singhbhum spread over 202 hectares. Besides, it has applied for prospecting license in an area of 1,087 hectares in neighbouring Karampada.

Singh agreed the Jharkhand project was getting delayed but said they were hopeful. “I want to send out a message that it is for the welfare of villagers that the company is setting up its unit in the state.”

Among the other company officials who accompanied Singh to meet Soren were Sudhir Maheshwari, the member, group management board, and Vijay Bhatnagar, the chief executive officer.