Kolkata, May 25 (IANS): The central government should regulate iron ore prices to save the steel industry, producers from Orissa said here Tuesday.
"Iron ore is a national resource on which all steel companies are surviving. But abnormal pricing by private miners and the inability of the government to supply ore by alternative means are leading to the closure of most small and medium scale steel companies in India," Purushottam Kandoi, All Odisha Steel Federation president, said at a press conference here.
Of about 400 steel companies in the country, about 100 were already sick or closed, Kandoi said.
"Under these circumstances, the government should either nationalise all iron ore mines or adopt the model used for RIL's KG basin natural gas," he added.