By Nageshwar Patnaik in Bhubaneswar, August 22, 2015 : There seems to be no end to stalemate on the issue of 12 million ton steel plant in Odisha planned for over a decade by the South Korean steel major, Posco.

The union steel and mines minister Narendra Singh Tomar making it very clear that the steel giant will have to bid for mines for its proposed Odisha project.

And hours later, Odisha’s mines minister Prafulla Mallick said the chief secretary and state mines secretary will hold a discussion with the union cabinet secretary on August 25 in New Delhi on Posco related issues.

The minister also clarified that the meeting will be a tripartite one and representatives from Posco will take part in the meeting.

“First of all, the state government wants to know about the South Korean steel company’s approach towards the steel project. Let them to clearly state what kind of help they want from Odisha government,” he said adding, “We are ready to provide them long-term supply linkage for the project.”

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday held a review meeting about the Posco’s proposed project, where it was decided that chief secretary G.C. Pati would hold discussions on the issue with officials from the Centre.

But Tomar on Saturday once again reiterated that his government would not break laws to favour a particular company, “Posco had signed an MoU with the Odisha government. When the NDA government came to power, we saw that the MoU was not renewed. We asked the Odisha government to notify the area (mining) and send it back to us and then we can think of acting on it.”

Since the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) [MMDR] Amendment Act, 2015 has been passed by the Parliament; the South Korean steel company will now have to bid for mines.

“But when the file came back, we had already put the MMDR draft on the public forum and it was not possible for the government to act on Posco’s issue. We welcome them. They can participate in mining auction, in value addition,” Tomar asserted.

Last month, Posco CEO Kwon Oh Joon announced to put hold on the Odisha project “Until the Indian prime minister offers better deals, we won’t resume and for now we will head to the west and do more downstream work,” he reamarked.

The mining auction will begin in October and November, Tomar reveled pushing Posco Project billed as the country biggest Foreign Direct Investment [FDI] project. “I have spoken to all the chief ministers of the mineral-producing states and the process has started there,” he added.