Ball in SAIL court as demand for surcharge waiver accepted

Lalit Mohan

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, July 22

The ball is now in the court of the Steel Authority of India (SAIL) to start its plants at Kandrori in Kangra district.

The Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board (HPSEB) has accepted the demand for waiving of surcharge for providing power connection for the SAIL plant. Sources here said the HPSEB had written a letter to SAIL accepting its demand for surcharge waiver for providing the power connection.

DC, Kangra, Ritesh Chauhan also admitted that the HPSEB had written to the SAIL authorities for depositing the reduced fee for getting the power connection. They would now take up the issue with the SAIL authorities to start production as it would provide jobs to hundreds of youths.

The biggest bottleneck for Rs 100 crore investment plant was cleared about six months ago. The Army that had been holding no-objection certificate (NOC) for the plant for more than two years on the plea that it was located within the 900-metre radius of the ordnance depot has given permission for operating the SAIL plant.

The steel plant was sanctioned during the stint of Virbhadra Singh as Union Minister for Steel in the UPA government. The commissioning of the plant was completed in 2013. However, the production could not be started as the Army claimed that it was located within a 900-metre radius of their ordnance depot.

The district administration, Kangra, and the state government had been taking up the matter with the Army authorities. Their contention was that furnace of steel plant would generate high temperature posing a threat to the ordnance depot.

Even after spending over Rs 100 crore on the project, SAIL was not in a position to start production in the plant. The initial cost of the project was about Rs 79 crore. However, it has escalated to over Rs 100 crore due to the delay.

As per project report, the plant will have an installed capacity of 1 lakh tonnes per annum. Billets, to be used as input for the Kandrori plant, are to be supplied by Durgapur Steel Plant. It is also the first SAIL plant in the state.