MANGALORE: With its back against the wall, KIOCL has still kept its fingers crossed on securing permission to mine iron ore for its pellet plant in Mangalore. On the sidelines of KIOCL’s tree planting programme organised here at Kadri Park in Mangalore on Monday, KIOCL director (production and projects) K Subba Rao said over 270 million tonnes of iron ore reserve had been detected in Chikkanayakanahalli.However, due to the state government’s ban on mining, they have nothing much to do with the discovery.A proposal to lease land in Ramanadurga in order to mine iron ore for its pellet plant is pending approval from the government. In order to keep the plant running, they have been forced to source iron ore from Chhattisgarh, he added.Subba Rao said that despite many odds, they were committed to protecting the environment. He revealed on their campaign that they will plant over 2,300 flower and fruit-yielding trees along the road to the Mangalore Airport, in schools and colleges at a total cost of Rs 27 lakh.They would also go for furnace oil for their captive power plant in order to reduce the sulphur dioxide emissions. Prof Srinikethan of the Chemical Engineering Department in NITK, who planted trees at Kadri park, lauded the green initiatives of KIOCL.
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