25-01-2021 | 13:11 PM
Iron Ore Policy, 2021
Context
Recently, the Ministry of Railways has approved a new iron-ore policy governing the allocation of rakes and transportation of iron-ore.
Key Highlights
The new policy has been named as ‘Iron-ore Policy 2021’ and shall come into effect from 10 February 2021.
The provisions of the new policy will be updated in the Rake Allotment System module by CRIS.
Scrutiny of documentation by Railways has been removed.
Executive Director Rake Movement of Railway Board (EDRM) office, Kolkata will have no regulatory role in the new policy. However, the office will be undertaking an analysis of various iron-ore traffic for further improvement of Railway freight loading.
Customers wishing to move their traffic under any priority will have to give an undertaking that they have procured, transported and utilized materials as per rules and regulations of Central and State Governments.
In the event of lapses, customers will be liable to be taken up as per the law of land and railway will stand indemnified for any such lapses.
As per the new policy, higher priority will be given to the movement of iron-ore traffic for domestic manufacturing activity.
The priority preferences for the customers will be self-generated by the system based on the customer’s profile fed in the system by the concerning zone.
The aim of policy is to attune it to the present day needs of customers and assure them that Indian Railways is fully committed to meet the complete requirement of transportation of iron ore customers and provide total logistics support to the steel industry to meet the competitive challenges domestically and globally.
The policy sets down clear guidelines on how to fully meet the requirement of customers by leveraging infrastructure facilities available at loading and unloading ends to the fullest.
The policy has categorized movement of iron ore based on the availability of railway infrastructure developed by customers. Also, the nature of movement will be in such a way to maximize iron-ore movement by rail.
Iron-ore is the second most important stream of traffic of Railways and along with steel accounts for nearly 17% (53.81 Million Tonne of Steel & 153.35 Million Tonne of Iron ore) of total 1210 Million Tonne freight loading of IR in 2019-20.
The new Iron-ore Policy, 2021 issued by the Ministry of Railways is expected to have a positive impact on the steel industry, provide powerful impetus to the core sector of the economy and boost the country's economic growth.
Note: The total recoverable reserves of iron ore in India are 9,602 million tonnes of hematite and 3,408 million tonnes of magnetite. The principal states producing iron ore in India includes Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Goa and Rajasthan.
