Address bottlenecks at under-performing units: Par panel to SAIL

"...the Committee..are concerned to note the poor performance of Rourkela Steel Plant (RS), IISCO Steel Plant (ISP), Alloy Steel Plant (ASP), Salem Steel Plant (SSP) and Visvesvaraya Iron Steel Plant (VISP) that could achieve only 79 per cent, 56 per cent, 38 per cent, 60 per cent and 33 per cent of their installed capacity of crude steel during 2016- 17," the Standing Committee on Coal and Steel said in its latest report.

However, the panel praised the highest-ever hot metal, crude steel and saleable steel output by SAIL during last financial year.

"The Committee desire that the company should take all necessary steps to address all the bottlenecks which hampers full capacity utilisation of these plants so that the production targets for 2017-18 which are lagging behind during the first half of the year are fully achieved," the report said.

The panel said that it would also like to be appraised of the reasons for the very poor capacity utilisation by other plants of SAIL and the steps taken by the company to ensure that all the plants operate at their full installed capacity.

Against the installed capacity of 16.8 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) during 2015-16 and 2016-17, the total crude steel production by SAIL was 14.27 MT and 14.50 MT respectively, the report said.