New Delhi, Apr 13 (PTI) An armed contingent of 530 CISF personnel on Thursday took over the security of a newly-commissioned NMDC steel plant located in the Naxal violence-affected Bastar region of Chhattisgarh.

The force was inducted in a ceremonial event held at the site of the plant in Nagarnar and senior Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) officials were present, a force spokesperson said.

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The NMDC is a 'Navratna' public sector enterprise under the Union steel ministry and is the "single-largest producer of iron ore in India".

It owns and operates "highly mechanised" iron ore mines in Chhattisgarh and Karnataka.

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The Union home ministry had recently sanctioned the armed security cover of the paramilitary force keeping in view the threat to the facility from Maoist and other terrorist elements. A commandant-rank officer of the CISF will head the 530-personnel contingent, a senior officer told PTI.

The plant is located in the Left Wing Extremism-affected region of Bastar and is the 20th unit of the ministry of steel under the security cover of the CISF, the spokesperson said.

As a forward integration and business diversification plan, the NMDC is in the process of commissioning its 3 MTPA Integrated Steel Plant (NISP) at Nagarnar, he said.

The CISF, as part of its charter, will provide a counter-terrorist and anti-sabotage security cover to the multi-acre installation.

The force, with this induction, has clocked a total of 355 establishments under its cover, including 11 in the private domain.

Last year, the security cover of the force at the Infosys campus in Mysuru (Karnataka) was withdrawn following the IT giant "winding down its operations" at the facility. However, the CISF cover at Infosys establishments in Bengaluru and Pune are continuing.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)