Ranchi, Jan. 16: Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL), one of the country’s leading players in steel, power, mining, oil & gas and infrastructure, has been incurring losses to the tune of Rs 23 crore every month due to non-availability of land for expanding its Patratu facility. The company, which recently pumped more than Rs 2,000 crore in its wire rod mill and bar rod mill plants in Patratu, has, in view of its losses, already shifted 100-odd employees to its Raigarh (Chhattisgarh) and Angul (Odisha) units. Sources in the state government claimed that the revelations were made by none other than JSPL chairman and managing director Naveen Jindal during his visit to the state a week back. Speaking to The Telegraph here today, industry secretary A.P. Singh said that the state was keeping a tab on the situation and would do all it could to help JSPL. “The company (JSPL) needs more land so that it can convert its existing facility into an integrated one, complete with a blast furnace. Currently, the raw materials and iron billers for manufacture of wire rods and TMT bars at the Patratu plant are sourced from Raigarh,” Singh said. JSPL assistant vice-president A.K. Biruly added that they needed an estimated space of 200 acres more to make the unit an integrated one. “The minimum requirement for converting any plant into an integrated one is 200-odd acres. Our efforts at purchasing land directly from the raiyats was met with some resistance. So we decided to approach the government for land,” said Biruly. He added that the company had asked the state to depute a special land settlement officer for Patratu area, which is under Ramgarh district, around 45km from Ranchi. Though the official refused to give details of the total losses faced by the company so far, he said that the land records were in a shambles, causing immense problems for them. Interestingly, JSPL gifted the state its first wire rod mill plant in 2010. It then went on to set up another bar mill plant which commenced production last year. The existing capacity of both the plants is an estimated 1.8 million tonne per annum, which is part of the company’s 6 million tonne per annum steel mill project. JSPL was initially allotted more than 550 acres from the ailing Bihar Alloys & Steel Limited by the state on which it set up its Patratu plant. However, despite tall promises by chief minister Arjun Munda of producing a “conducive industrial environment” for investors in the state, JSPL has found it particularly hard to acquire land around Patratu, prompting managing director Naveen Jindal to visit the state, to hold parleys with ministers, twice in the last fortnight. Sources claimed that a section of villagers was thwarting the company’s attempt to purchase land directly from the raiyats. This apart, a number of employees are said to be striking “dubious deals” with the villagers, which is affecting prospects of the company.