Public hearing for Tata Steel Fero Alloy plant conducted

Public hearing for the proposed expansion of Tata Steel's Fero Alloy Plant at Joda has been successfully conducted by the district administration of Keonjhar in Odisha.

"The public hearing was successful as 84 of the total 87 persons who attended supported expansion of the Fero Alloys Plant at Joda," Keonjhar Additional District Magistrate Sangram Keshari Swain said.

Swain said though about 4,000 people attended the public hearing function held yesterday, 87 people could give their opinions. Besides officials of the district administration, senior officers from Odisha State Pollution Control Board, representatives of NGOs and local people supported the public hearing, Swain said.

Tata Steel, which had been operating its Ferro Alloys Unit at Joda in mineral rich Keonjhar district, has proposed to expand the capacity of its existing plant running since 1957 from 0.0504 MTPA to 0.06 MTPA.

The company also announced that it does not require additional land for the expansion project. "The expansion project will be within its existing plant premises of 47.13 acre of land," a company spokesman said.

Tata Steel has been in the Fero Manganese business for last 54 years. Its Fero Alloys plant at Joda caters to Manganese alloy requirements of Tata Steel works at Jamshedpur. The company sources its manganese requirement from the Ferro Alloys Plant at Joda.