Steel minister Beni Prasad Verma has cautioned environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan against delaying green clearances for SAIL’s iron ore mines in Orissa and Jharkhand. Delays have led to the discontinuation of mining in the predominantly tribal areas, said Verma, cautioning this could trigger law and order problems and stoke naxal activities in these areas.

Verma’s November 30 letter follows SAIL’s top brass cautioning that delays at two SAIL mines — Gua in Jharkhand and Bolani in Orissa — could trigger serious raw material scarcity at its Bokaro plant in Jharkhand and Integrated Steel Plant in West Bengal.