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`Mandatory certification to be introduced for steel industry'

Staff Reporter

16 steel items will be included in the mandatory certification

PALAKKAD : Kumar Aravind Singh Deo, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Steel, Government of India, has said the Centre will soon introduce mandatory certification for steel industry.

Inaugurating a two-day national seminar on ``Challenges and opportunities in the secondary steel sector'' jointly organised by the National Institute of Secondary Steel Technology (NISST) and Steel Manufacturers Association of Kerala here, Mr. Sigh Deo said that 16 steel items would be included in the mandatory certification like TMT, ingots, long bars, pillets, etc.

The Ministry of Consumer Affairs would issue the notification of the certification. The steel units would be given six months time to adjust to the new norms.

He said a branch of the NISST would be set up in Palakkad, the first one in South India.

Mr. Singh Deo said the Ministry of Steelproposed to the Finance Ministry to reduce the existing customs duty of 5 per cent for import of steel scrap to 3 per cent. The Ministry of Finance would take a final decision in the next budget.

He said the steel production in the country increased by 8 per cent and its consumption by 10 per cent. In December 2006, there was an increase of 9.6 per cent in production and 9.3 per cent in consumption. But there would be 10 per cent increase in demand and production for steel in the next five years.

He said that steel consumption in India was the lowest in the world. The per capita consumption was only 30 kg as against the world average of 64 kg.

He said that steel re-rolling mills and secondary steel sector were unavoidable and had an important role in increasing the demand of steel. So the National Steel Policy emphasised the need for modernisation of re-rolling mills. A technical upgradation fund for it would be allotted in the next budget.

The main raw material for steel industry was power. So energy auditing should be implemented on various ways to save energy. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) was offering various types of technologies.

The inaugural function was presided over by S.S. Agarwal, president, Steel Manufacturers Association of Kerala, and addressed by the former president of the association P.K. Ahammed, and R.K. Bagchi, Director, National Institute of Secondary Steel Technology, among others.

Meanwhile, the environmental and farmers organisations took out a march to the venue of the seminar to protest against the functioning of the `pollutting steel industries'.

Inaugurating the dharna, Indanur Gopi, secretary, Bharathapuzha Samrakshana Samithi, said the steel industries were polluting water, air and soil. The functioning of 37 re-rolling steel mills in Palakkad created health problems.

Some of these companies were also indulging in power theft. The Korayar river was destroyed due to the pollution from 27 steel units set up on its bank, he said.

The dharna was addressed by P.S. Panaikkar, secretary, Janajagratha; Vilayodi Venugopal, Anti-Coca-Cola Agitation Committee; R. Bhaskaran, farmers' representative and Major P.M. Raveendran, convener, Health Watch, among others.

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