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Paswan inaugurates BSP expansion project

— FILE PHOTO

A bird’s eye view of Bhilai Steel Plant.

BHILAI: Union Minister of Steel Ram Vilas Paswan on Saturday inaugurated the Rs. 11,262-crore expansion project of the Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP), the flagship unit of Steel Authority of India.

Expressing hope that the Bhilai Steel Plant would be given the rights to explore the Raoghat mines in Chhattisgarh shortly, he said: “The State Government has already cleared the proposal for the mines. Only the environmental clearances are remaining which would come shortly,” he said.

The Dalli-Rajhara mines linked to the plant would be exhausted in the next five years, the Minister said.

The Bhilai plant is undertaking the expansion to take its capacity to 7.5 million tonnes from the current 4.6 million tonnes annually. Salable steel capacity would go up from 3.15 million tonnes to 6.53 million tonnes. The expansion is in line with the SAIL’s target of achieving a capacity of 26 million tonnes by 2010.

The current capacity of the company is 14.6 million tonnes annually. SAIL is investing about Rs. 51,000 crore in expanding capacities and modernising its various facilities across the country.

With the expansion, the Bhilai unit would add new products in its basket. A 7-metre tall coke oven battery and a new 4,060 cubic metre blast furnace would be built under the expansion plan.

The plant’s capabilities in the long product category will be strengthened with a nine lakh tonnes new bar and rod mill and a 1.2 million tonne universal beam mill, which will produce beams up to one metre depth. A 1.2 million tonne universal rail mill is also being installed. — PTI

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