Govt to take back 5,000 acres allotted to ArcelorMittal: Bommai

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Tuesday told the Karnataka Assembly that the government would recover nearly 5,000 acres of land that was allotted to steel producer ArcelorMittal in Ballari over a decade ago.

Bommai said this during a debate in the Assembly on the Karnataka Special Investment Region Bill.

The CM said he met ArcelorMittal executive chairman Lakshmi Mittal recently and brought up the land issue. "I told him that he should either return the land or use it. He said he'd come up with an alternative plan. We've given them a notice. We will recover the 5,000 acres of land," Bommai said.

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In 2010, the government had identified nearly 5,000 acres in Kudithini and Haraginadoni villages of Ballari for a steel plant ArcelorMittal wanted to set up with an estimated investment of Rs 30,000 crore. However, the project did not take off.

Land audit

Bommai said he had ordered a land audit to assess land allotments to industries. "There has been misuse of land, industries that did not start operations and vacant plots. I ordered the land audit three months ago and the report is ready. We will decide on reusing these lands for industrialisation," he said, offering to lay the details in the Assembly.

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Bommai also said that several power plant and steel plant licences were issued for which water allocation was blocked. "While the plants did not become operational, we're not able to use the water for other purposes such as irrigation," he said.