Government has no plans to dilute its stake in NALCO

New Delhi, Jun 20 (UNI) The government has no plans to dilute its stake in the Orissa based public sector National Aluminium Company (NALCO) Ltd.

Briefing newsmen about the performance and achievements of his ministry, Union Minister for mines Sis Ram Ola said here today that if at all the Government's holding in NALCO, the entire money that would be generated should be redeployed for the expansion of the public sector company.

He said currently NALCO is under its second phase of expansion plan and Rs 1323.3 crores had already been spent. The total cost of the second phase expansion plan is estimated at Rs 4091.50 crores and the entire expansion programme will be completed by 2008, he added.

He said during 2005-06 the company has produced 48.54 lakh tonnes of bauxite, 15.90 lakh tonnes of Alumina and 3.59 lakh tonnes of Aluminium metal.

The sales turnover has jumped from Rs 4440 crores to Rs 5324 crores. Similarly, the profit after tax has shot up from Rs 1235 crores to Rs 1564 crores, he added.

He said the company has already paid an interim dividend of 20 per cent and the final dividend will be paid after the AGM.

The Minister said Hindustan Copper Limited (HCL), another PSU has achieved a net profit of Rs 112.52 crore as against Rs 52.06 crores acheived in the previous financial year.

Mineral Exploration Corporation Limited (MECL) has achieved a gross revenue of Rs 81.40 crores as against the MoU target of Rs 69.30 crores representing 117 per cent rise. The net profit of the company during 2005-06 has been Rs 5.65 crores, the highest in the last 20 years.

The total value of mineral production during 2005-06 by Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) has been estimated at Rs 75,121.61 crores (provisonally) which is higher than the previous year of Rs 74,941.70 crores.

During the year under review, the IBM inspected 2538 mines exceeding the target by 10 per cent and issued show cause notices to 2147 for violation of Mineral Conservation and Development Rules, 1988.

IBM also rectified 1117 violations.

During the year, IBM approved 536 mining plans and 284 schemes as compared to 382 mining plans and 289 schemes of last year.

The Ministry launched a major offensive against illegal mining by setting up state wise task forces for vigorous enforcement activity.

17 states have framed rules under section 23 C of Mines and Minerals development and Regulations (MMDR) Act, 1957 and constituted task forces/flying squads at state level.

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