The Andhra Pradesh Government finally decided to take back 10,760 acres of its land allotted to Brahmani Industries Limited (BIL) of former Karnataka Tourism Minister Gali Janardhan Reddy, now in jail in connection with Obulapuram Mining Company case.
Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy went through all the files and papers pertaining to the matter and approved cancellation of the allotment as proposed by Industries & Commerce Department, before leaving for a visit of Adilabad district.
A big chunk
The land, one of the biggest chunks of government property alienated to any private party for establishment of a steel plant, is spread over Vemaguntapalli, Kothaguntapalli, P. Bommepalli and Thugutlapalli, all in Jammalamadugu mandal of Kadapa district.
Significant decision
The government said it was taking away the land as the BIL had failed to establish an integrated steel plant as was committed in the Memorandum of Understanding signed by it. Under the MoU, the first phase of the plant with an annual initial capacity of two million tonnes of steel should have been completed by 2009 itself. A formal order giving effect to the decision taken by the Chief Minister is likely to be issued shortly.
The firm stand by Mr Kiran Kumar Reddy for taking back the allotted valuable government lands, if they are found to be not used for the purpose for which they were alienated in the past, climaxes various developments in the past two years in case of Brahmani Industries Limited.
After finding that the land given to Brahmani by the YSR Government was kept unused, the government had already scrapped on May 31, 2012, the MoU signed with BIL which formed the basis for allotment of the land.
The MoU provided for setting of an integrated steel plant with an initial capacity of two million tonnes and of 10 million tonnes ultimately by 2017. The government extended all the incentives such as stamp duty exemption to BIL as per the 2005-10 industrial and investment promotion policy.
The steel plant was expected to provide direct employment to 10,000 people and one lakh other persons indirectly. Former Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy had laid the foundation for the project in 2007.
