Will complete hot strip mill at Rourkela soon: SAIL chief

Rourkela/New Delhi: During a visit to Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) on Saturday, Steel Authority of India Ltd chairman Anil Kumar Chaudhary emphasised on early completion of the new three million tonnes per annum hot strip mill (HSM).

During his address, he also congratulated the RSP collective – which is in its 60th year of production – and said the theme for celebration of this would be Safety, Health and Environment.

Chaudhary said the new HSM should be completed by the beginning of next financial year, which will augment the plant's hot rolled steel making capacity and enable RSP to produce advance grade HR coils. This will help RSP to cater to the high end HR Steel segment and facilitate for supplying to Cold Rolling Mills producing auto grade steel, as per requirement.

During his visit, Chaudhary also inaugurated the additional heat treatment line (AHTL) of the Special Plate Plant (SPP) of RSP. The SPP has been catering to the needs of the nation's defence and research programmes and supplied steel for India's indigenous defence projects like INS Vikrant, INS Kamorta etc.

Built at a cost of Rs 155 crore, the AHTL facility will augment the heat treatment capacity of SPP and will help it meet the enhanced demand for defence grade special steel of various dimensions.

The SPP unit is a pioneer in the field of special steel plates; with a diverse product profile that ranges from various grades of heat treated plates.

Prioritizsng volume growth, Chaudhary said the new facilities and mills can be utilised at their rated capacities "when we have the desired levels of steel making."

The SAIL chief further emphasised on following safety measures in all processes at all plants, adding "we have to focus on more sustainable processes which are environment friendly."