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Surprised that steel minister chose not to address questions over dismantling SAIL’s RMD: Amit Mitra

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Kolkata, Jun 18 (PTI) West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra on Friday said he was surprised that Union Steel Minister Dharmendra Pradhan ‘chose not to address’ major questions over the dismantling of the Raw Materials Division of SAIL in Kolkata.

Mitra had on Wednesday requested Pradhan to intervene and stop dismantling of Steel Authority of India Ltd’s RMD, saying it would result in job losses amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

In response, the steel minister had said there are no plans to terminate any employee of state-owned SAIL or reduce its headcount.

‘I once again urge you to stop the dismantling of the RMD and keep its headquarters in Kolkata,’ Mitra said in another letter to Pradhan on Friday.

He also said since the BJP-led government came to power at the Centre, ‘there is an ominous pattern of removing the headquarters of PSU from Kolkata, which has been here for half a century and even a century’.

Citing examples, he said Hindustan Steelworks Construction shifted from the metropolis to Delhi in 2017, and SBI relocated its central accounts hub to Mumbai in 2018.

He added that mining major Coal India shifted its subsidiary offices along with respective marketing and sales offices of the subsidiaries to places like Dhanbad, Bilaspur and Sambalpur in 2020.

In the letter, Mitra also said there is ‘deep apprehension’ that headquarters of Damodar Valley Corporation and National Insurance Company would be moved out of Kolkata, too. PTI BSM RBT RBT

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