Steel ministry seeks deferment of MOIL disinvestment

NEW DELHI: The Steel Ministry has asked the disinvestment ministry to defer disinvesment in Manganese Ore India, citing recessionary market conditions.
The employees union however, has asked the government to set up a study group for examining the need for privatising the company.
Company sources said the steel ministry had written to the disinvestment department recently asking it to defer any move to dilute government equity in the PSU on account of poor market conditions.
Rashtriya Manganese Mazdoor Sangh Secretary General A P Tiwari said that disinvestment in MOIL would be improper without an indepth study of performance of this sole public sector undertaking in the manganese segment vis-a-vis private sector organisations.
The proposed study group should comprise administrative, mining, health and other experts from private sector companies along with representatives of MOIL feels Tiwari.
The employees have offered to take over government stake in the company in case government decides to dilute its equity.
The government is yet to take a decision and is currently examining the recommendations of disinvestment commission on the issue.
Steel ministry had earlier opposed any move to privatise the company arguing that it would lead to slaughter mining and large scale retrenchement. It was sceptical about private players flouting safety norms putting the miners at risk. And that indiscriminate mining would deplete high grade ore whoose reserves are expected to last 20-30 years.
The Disinvestment Commission had recommended divestment of 51 per cent equity in favour of a strategic partner through competitive bidding. It said continuance of MOIL in the public sector was neither essential for conservation of maganese ore deposits nor vital for maintaining domestic price of ferro manganese.