Malkangiri: A group of armed Maoists damaged a portion of the iron ore slurry pipeline belonging to Essar Steel near Digha Janbai village under Ralegada panchayat Malkangiri district late Sunday, night.
According to reports, a group of armed Maoists barged into the village near the plant and damaged the pipeline at place with the help of crowbars and hacksaw blades. Work in the plant has been stopped as the supply of iron ore slurry to Visakhapantam via Chhattisgarh has been disrupted due to damage in the pipepline.
Following information, a team of SOG and BSF personnel have rushed to the spot and begun combing operation in the locality, Malkangiri SP, Jagmohan Meena informed the media, Monday.
The left-wing ultras had damaged the pipeline of the Essar Steel twice earlier. Members of the outlawed CPI (Maoist) had damaged Essar Steel’s 273-km iron ore slurry pipeline from Dantewada in Chhattisgarh to Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh near Odisha-Andhra border.
The pipeline is critical for Essar’s Visakhapatnam steel plant, as it supplies 22,000 tonnes of iron ore daily from NMDC’s Bailadila mines in Dantewada to the plant which has an annual capacity of eight million tonnes.
Prior to this, they had damaged the pipeline near Balapam of Chintapalli mandal in Visakhapatnam district, July 26, 2014.
PNN