No output in sight, Odisha CM to open Tata Steel plant.

Tata Steel’s Kalinganagar project is some way off from rolling out steel as Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is set to dedicate the plant to the state recently.

The blast furnace, sinter plant and steel melting shop for the first three million tonnes of the Kalinganagar project, all critical to steel making, are yet to receive clearance from the Odisha State Pollution Control Board. Only peripheral units like the captive power plant, coke plant and hot strip mill had received environmental clearance, officials said.

It will take another three months for steel to be produced from the Kalinganagar complex. Though work on the blast furnace, sinter plant and steel melting shop was almost complete, it would take time for the customary pre-operation heating process and stabilisation of the units, they added.

'We have already started commissioning process of the coke plant and the hot strip mill according to the plan and the next in line is the blast furnace, sinter plant and steel melting shop. After all, the plants are successfully commissioned, trial production would commence. As soon as we come to this stage, appropriate disclosures would be made', a company spokesperson stated.

Informed sources attribute the haste in 'commissioning' the plant to the state government's desire to showcase the Tata Steel project. The Biju Janata Dal government is under attack from different quarters for its apathetic attitude towards facilitation of investment. Critics blame the government’s attitude for withdrawal of big-ticket steel projects like those of Posco and ArcelorMittal.


BS