pro- and anti- posco groups in Orissa clashed again. It is alleged that the hand of a 58-year old man of the posco -support group was chopped off on May 14 by project opponents led by the posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (ppss).

Steel makers will honour their commitment to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to hold prices for three months, but rates will go up thereafter, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of JSW Steel Sajjan Jindal said on Tuesday, after taking over as Assocham President.

Recycling is an effective way of creating treasure out of waste at a fraction of the energy used in producing primary metals from minerals. Now that both ferrous and non-ferrous metals are ruling at historically high prices, the outlook for scrap recovery and metal production through the secondary route of melting of scrap has never been this good. Steel scrap deals are made at rates of over $600 a tonne.

Making the situation more complex for the state government, activists opposing the Rs 12,000-crore Posco steel project at Paradip have formed a suicide squad. The Posco Pratirodha Sangram Samiti (PPSS), which is spearheading the anti-displacement movement, has formed the suicide squad with at least 50 members enrolled from Nuagaon panchayat, the proposed project site. The squad took oath at Sarala temple at Kanakpur in Jagatsinghpur district on Sunday and vowed to lay down their lives protecting their "motherland."

Global steel major ArcelorMittal, who is proposing to set up a 12 million tonne greenfield steel plant at Patna tehsil in Keonjhar district of Orissa, plans to spend about $300 million (about Rs 1,200 crore) on rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R). Only a couple of weeks ago, the company had announced an identical R&R packages for its project in Jharkhand, where it intends to set up an equal-capacity steel plant.

Tender plant: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh plants a sapling during the centenary year celebrations of the Tata Steel at JRD Tata Sports complex in Jamshedpur on Tuesday. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday urged the steel industry not to fall prey to the temptation of seeking windfall gains from market manipulation in a period of excess demand. "Industry and trade must eschew short-term gains that hurt consumers and disrupt the stability of the process of economic growth,' he said.

SAIL has decided not to increase prices for the moment. Also, faced with the possibility of a cut in excise duty, the private sector steel makers who had announced imposition of a raw material surcharge of Rs 5,000 a tonne on hot-rolled steel, have now kept this in abeyance, sources said. "We have been told by the Government to hold prices,' a senior SAIL official said. Any decision on price revision will come only after the Government clearance, he added.

An inter-ministerial group constituted to suggest measures for checking steel prices, has recommended a 10% export duty on steel and 15% on iron ore. The report will be submitted to PM Manmohan Singh before the meeting of cabinet committee on prices. It is learnt that the proposal has got the approval of FM P Chidambaram who has been insisting on a revenue-neutral scheme to control steel prices.