After a hiatus, BF-III of RINL buzzes back to life
Visakhapatnam; Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) is ready to operate Blast Furnace (BF)-III which was kept closed for a while. Secretary of Ministry of Steel Sandeep Poundrik is slated to recommence the operations of the BF-III at Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) on June 27 (Friday).
The Blast Furnace remained shut for the past 10 months due to inadequate supply of raw material. Even as the situation in terms of raw material is yet to see any signs of improvement in the plant, the recommencement of the BF-III is creating a sense of unrest among employees and trade union leaders.
Earlier, when the BF-III was restarted, it had to be shut down again due to insufficient supply of raw material. When the Ministry of Steel Secretary visited the plant, he announced that the BF-III will be made operational again after ensuring that the raw material supply lasts for at least three months.
According to reliable sources, the raw material is not going to last for more than 15 days now. In this backdrop, the employees wonder how all the three BFs in the VSP would continue to operate with limited resources.
Sharing his view, Steel CITU honorary president J Ayodhya Ramu pointed out that the Centre and VSP management are keen on operating the plant with full capacity. 'However, they are not concerned about sorting out ground level challenges faced. It would be appreciable if the Steel Ministry comes up with a concrete solution to run all the three blast furnaces with full capacity in a sustained manner rather than recommencing the BF-III in a hurry,' he opined. In the meantime, a section of employees was given an opportunity to opt for VRS, while others are getting retired each month. Also, nearly 4,000 contract workers were removed from the organisation. 'The ones that were working were removed from the plant. Replacing them, the management is engaging inexperienced workers. This is a dangerous trend as there is a large scope for accidents to recur in the plant,' stressed Adi Narayana, chairman of Visakha Ukku Parirakshana Porata Committee.Even as the Centre announced a revival package of Rs.11,440 crore to the VSP, the emphasis is more on steering the plant towards a profitable growth. But safety of workers and the plant's sustainability remain grossly neglected.
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