Top officials of Steel Min rush to Vizag to discuss RINL crisis
RINL facing crisis due to coking coal shortage caused by Adani port workers’ strike
image for illustrative purpose
Visakhapatnam: Several top officials from the Ministry of Steel led by its Secretary Nagendra Nath Sinha and some from Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) and NMDC have rushed to the city following instructions from Steel Minister Jyotirditya Scindia to take stock of stalemate faced by Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), the corporate entity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant.
RINL's coking coal crisis completed a month on Sunday since the workers of Adani Gangavaram Port Limited (AGPL) went on a strike demanding increase in wages bringing the evacuation of coking coal and limestone brought to the port located on VSP's backyard, to a standstill. To survive with minimal production and avoid risk of leakage of hazardous gases/chemicals, the coke oven batteries are being operated with just 140 pushings, an all-time low. This led to shutdown of two of the three blast furnaces causing a huge loss to RINL, which is already faced with a huge debt burden.
During interactions with the officers' association and trade unions, the officials gave a patient hearing to their view point on the RINL stalemate and on how to restore normal production and achieve a turnaround. Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, India's first shore based integrated steel plant, has a production capacity of 7.3 million tonnes. During the Gangavaram workers' strike, SAIL sent some rakes to RINL as a gesture and Visakhapatnam Port Authority (VPA), the main port in the city, helped the steel plant in unloading some of the ships, stuck at Gangavaram, which were diverted to ensure minimal supply of imported coking coal.
Visakha Steel Employees' Congress general secretary Mantri Rajasekhar and president Neerukonda Ramachandra Rao, in a representation to Nagendra Nath Sinha, asked him to ensure raw material security, grant of working capital, declaration of a holiday on interest due to financial institutions as a rehabilitation package. They also wanted to reexamine their demand for merber of RINL-SAIL for mutual benefit.
