BHUBANESWAR: With many local industries forced to procure raw materials at a high price, the State Government on Tuesday announced that it is working on a new pricing policy for minerals to ensure that industries get their requirement at reasonable rate. “We will have a pricing policy for raw materials so that no industry is forced to pay more for their needs,” said Finance Minister Prafulla Chandra Ghadei, chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Group on Price Fixation on Raw Materials.Stating that the pricing policy would be finalised keeping in view the rate of different minerals in the international market and the London Stock Exchange, Ghadei said arrangements would be made to help the local industries. The State Government will ensure that the local industries are not forced to procure their required raw material at a higher price, he said.A number of industries had petitioned the State Government that they were unable to run their units due to acute shortage of raw materials. A memorandum submitted to the Steel and Mines department alleged that though the State Government had signed MoU with about 80 industries, including 50 steel manufacturers, there is no proper raw material linkage for them.While industries demand raw materials from Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC), the State-owned corporation had no capacity to meet their raw material requirement. “We are exploring possibilities as to how to increase production of OMC,” Ghadei said.The inter-ministerial group also asked the Steel and Mines department and the Industries department to assess the actual requirement of raw materials in the MoU signed by 80 industries. The State Government, Ghadei said, is also taking steps to ensure that the industries get raw materials at reasonable rate so that their plants could run without hurdles.
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