New Year windfall for workers in Gadchiroli’s sole major business unit

NAGPUR: In a New Year gift, Lloyds Metals and Energy Limited (LMEL), the sole company with an operational iron-ore mine and an upcoming steel complex in Maoist-affected Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra, allotted the company’s shares, which closed at over Rs 1,260 in the stock market on Wednesday, for a nominal value of Rs 4 each to its workers Wednesday.
The unit has also employed a number of surrendered Maoists.
The shares go to a 6,000-strong workforce, and 80% of the beneficiaries are mine and plant workers. This makes it the only company, at least in recent years, where the beneficiaries of the stock allotment scheme will largely be workers, says the management.
The move makes workers in the sole major industrial unit in the district also stakeholders in the venture. The total value of the allotment comes to Rs 1,000 crore in terms of market cap. The workers come from remote parts of Gadchiroli and other tribal areas.
The share certificates were handed over to Padma Shri tribal social worker Tulsi Munda, who works in the company’s Odisha unit, along with two surrendered Maoists, by CM Devendra Fadnavis. Munda, 70, got 10,000 shares worth over Rs 1.25 crore.
Fadnavis appreciated the company’s managing director B Prabhakaran for “having shown the courage to have started mining where none ventured”.
The CM told the workers that the shares will make them owners of the company. “Wait for another five years, and you will get five times returns… If B Prabhakaran is the managing director, you are the owners,” he said.
All workers who completed two years were given shares on the basis of tenure. The minimum a worker received was 100 shares. The amount increased, depending on the years put in.
The CM said there is no lock-in period for the workers, and there are plans to increase the allotment depending on the performance in the coming days.
LMEL runs an iron-ore mine with a 9 million tonnes capacity in the Surjagadh pocket of Gadchiroli, and plans to increase the capacity to 25 million. It is coming up with an integrated steel plant with an estimated investment of Rs 24,000-25,000 crore at Konsari village in the district.