STATES: Minister assures Navratna status to RINL.

from BUSINESS LINE, May 12, 2010 Visakhapatnam, May 11 - The Union Steel Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh, has promised Navratna status to the Visakhapatnam steel plant, but has remained non-committal on the crucial issue of captive iron ore mines to the plant, which is expanding its capacity from 3 million tonnes to 6.3 million tonnes.

The Minister, on his first visit to the plant to inaugurate the fourth coke oven battery taken up as part of the expansion project, told reporters at a press meet late on Monday night that "If it is in my hands, I shall grant captive iron ore mines to the Visakhapatnam steel plant …