NMDC resumes full iron ore shipment after Maoist shutdown

RAIPUR - Iron ore shipment by state-run National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) Ltd has reached its peak levels after three weeks of disruption at its key mining facilities in Chhattisgarh, an official said Wednesday.

“The iron ore shipment from Bailadila hills facilities has resumed to its full capacity after being hit by a Maoist shutdown that had forced us to bring down shipment at about 36,000 tonnes a day from Dec 2 as against the normal dispatches of 56,000 tonnes a day,” a senior NMDC official told IANS on condition of anonymity. NMDC is India’s largest iron ore producer and exporter in the public sector.

He added that the iron ore shipment had been hit because rail rakes were not available during night as Maoists had called for a shutdown.

He said that full shipment was restored from Tuesday night and the company would try to cover up the losses as shipment was hit by about 30 percent on a daily basis between Dec 2-21.

The outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) enforced a shutdown from Dec 2 in the state’s southern region - rich in iron ore - which is its stronghold since the late 1980s to observe the foundation anniversary of its military wing, People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA).

Maoist rebels, who dominate large parts of eastern and central India, often bomb railway tracks, damage government property and kill policemen and politicians. They had killed 76 security personnel in April this year in Dantewada district in Chattisgarh, their worst ever attack in the four-decade-old insurgency.

NMDC Ltd has several mines at Bailadila hills in insurgency-riddled Dantewada, where it excavates more than 75 percent of its total annual iron ore output.