Essar Steel takes New India to court over 2k-crore insurance claim for terrorist attack on its pipelines

MUMBAI: Essar Steel is seeking court intervention to receive more than 2,000 crore in insurance claim for terrorist attack on its pipelines after New India Assurance Company turned down the claim saying naxalites are not terrorists by definition.

The metal-maker, controlled by the Ruia family, has appealed to the Bombay High Court to appoint an arbitrator in its dispute with the state-run New India Assurance Co. Essar Steel said that its pumping station and slurry pipeline in Chitrakonda, in Odisha, were blown up by terrorists in March 2010, causing the company losses of about 2,080 crore.

"The pumping station and pipeline at Chitrakonda was blown off by an act of terror resulting in direct physical loss," the company said in a plaint.