NMDC resumes full supply after Maoists’ ‘celebrations’

RAIPUR - State-run National Mineral Development Corp (NMDC) has resumed full supply of iron ore after its dispatches were hit for a week becausde of Maoists’ celebrations that affected ore supplies by 25-30 percent, officials said Thursday.

Officials at NMDC, India’s largest iron ore producer, said that rail rakes were not available during the night period since Dec 2-8 because of East Coast Railway cancelled the goods train service, fearing attacks by guerrillas at Kirandul and Bacheli mining complexes.

The outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist had called for a week-long celebration to mark the ninth anniversary of the founding of its military wing, People’s Liberation Guerilla Army (PLGA).

The two NMDC complexes - Kirandul and Bacheli - are based some 400 km south of capital Raipur in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada that is described as India’s one of the districts wort hit by Maoist violence.

“Nearly 15,000 tonnes of iron ore is transported daily from Kirandul and the supply was hit by about 25 percent,” L.B. Singh, joint general manager for production at Kirandul, told IANS over phone.

“Supplies were hit by about 30 percent from the daily dispatch of around 22,500 tonnes,” a senior official at Bacheli complex added.

The officials said that a number of major domestic steel makers were hit due to reduced supply of iron ore and the company will try to make up the supply losses to its customers in coming days. The NMDC’s exports to Japan and other Asian nations were unaffected during the week-long period.