Minister pulls up SAIL for slow production; asks to raise Bhilai rail mill output

Steel Minister Birender Singh 

UNION Steel Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh has pulled up steel major SAIL for slow production in its Bhilai unit. "SAIL must ramp up production from New Rail Mill in Bhilai without wasting any more time...,” a Ministry of Steel statement said.
In order to meet the rising demand of the railways, the minister said the PSU should chalk out a time bound action plan.
“SAIL must take its joint ventures at international level to logical conclusion at the earliest,” the minister said while chairing a mid-year review meeting with top management of SAIL...
at Udyog Bhawan.
“SAIL must leverage its position in the industry, instead of not being able to fulfil its commitments and agreements,” he added.
Singh also directed the management of SAIL to submit its quarterly plans and targets, which would be reviewed after every three months.
In order to get a direct feedback about constraints and bottlenecks, Singh would meet CEOs and EDs of SAIL’s steel plants in November.
“The CEOs have to understand their direct accountability and responsibility for performance of the Unit under their charge,” the minister added.
He had asked the country’s largest steel maker to ensure raw material security in order to avoid the vagaries of coal supplies currently plaguing the PSU.
Stressing that accidents in the plants must be reduced the minister said, “safety should be a prime focus of all the plant heads and stress should be given on repair and regular maintenance to avoid unforeseen breakdowns, downtime and resulting loss of production".
SAIL, the minister said, should explore possibilities to develop new markets by adopting new technology and adding value—added products to its basket and also focus on product differentiation to create value for the shareholders, thereby creating an exclusive space for the PSU.
In order to meet the requirements of the customers and improve the financial performance of the Maharatna PSU, the focus should be on efficiency improvement and product quality improvement at individual plant level.
Touch and go
Meanwhile, SAIL supplied 33,500 metric tonnes of steel for the construction of the Agra - Lucknow expressway which facilitated the touch-and-go landing of planes of the Indian Air Force, on October 24. IAF conducted the touch and go landings on a stretch of the expressway, starting with a 35,000-kg C-130J Super Hercules aircraft. SAIL had primarily supplied long products consisting of earthquake resistant TMT bars for the project, a statement issued by the PSU steel major said. This is the first time that the C-130J transport aircraft joined the Indian Air Force's special drill to land planes on the expressway. The IAF had earlier landed its Mirage 2000 and Sukhoi-30MKI fighter jets on the Yamuna Expressway and the Lucknow-Agra Expressway.
SAIL has supplied steel for projects of national importance spanning from Sardar Sarovar Dam, Dhola-Sadiya bridge, Chenani-Nashri tunnel to various metro projects, power plants and upcoming Statue of Unity at Gujarat.