Ranchi, Dec. 18: Tata Steel managing director T.V. Narendran today called on chief minister Raghubar Das at the latter's official residence on Kanke Road in Ranchi to discuss a host of issues related with Noamundi iron ore mines, road widening projects in Jamshedpur and corporate social responsibility (CSR).

Sources at the chief minister's office said Das, who heads the state-level CSR Council that has worked out CSR targets for various companies doing business in the state, had asked the steel major to provide benches and desks to government-run schools in East Singhbhum and West Singhbhum districts. The sources added that Narendran had agreed to help the schools meet their infrastructure requirement in minimum possible time.

During the meeting, Narendran informed the chief minister that the company was working towards improving the capacity of Tata Steel Works in Jamshedpur from the existing 10 MTPA to 11 MTPA at the earliest. The Tata officials also discussed issues related with the Noamundi mines, where work resumed a couple of months ago.

The lease of Noamundi mines, which supply iron ore mainly to Tata Steel plant in Jamshedpur, was suspended in September last year. However, the company was recently allowed to restart mining there after it promised to pay the first instalment of Rs 474 crore out of a total penalty of Rs 3,500 crore that has been worked out as cost of the mineral extracted between the date of expiry of lease and its renewal.

Earlier, the Raghubar Das government had in-principal decided to renew the lease of Noamundi mines in favour of Tata Steel till 2031.

Das today asked the company officials to work towards revival of Indian Cable Company, which has been closed for long. Chief minister's principal secretary Sanjay Kumar, Tata Steel vice-president (corporate affairs) Sunil Bhaskaran and Ranchi-based chief resident executive of the company Satish Singh were also present.