Rourkela: With four of the five blast furnaces not being in operation at present, the fate of Rourkela Steel Plant, one of the biggest steel-making units of the country, looks uncertain, a report said.
The growth of the plant has been adversely affected with a decline in production which has put the livelihood of 24,000 employees including 10,000 contractual workers at risk, it was learnt.
Blast furnaces are considered an important component of the plant in which iron blocks are melted and given shapes of plates, sheets, pipes, special plates and other forms. However, the operation of the furnaces has been stopped due to mechanical fault affecting production, said some RSP officials.
The plant was set up in the 1950s with only three blast furnaces. The first furnace (Parbati) had become operational in 1959 while the second (Laxmi) and third (Saraswati) were put into use in 1960 and 1962 respectively. Later, two more furnaces – Annapurna and Durga – introduced in 1967 and 2013 respectively. It takes about three years for the construction of a blast furnace.
The first furnace, which used to produce nearly 1,200 tonne of hot metal, became defunct in 2014. Though an agency was roped in to repair and remodel it at the cost of Rs 1,200 crore, it has failed to complete the job within the deadline. It may take another four months for make it functional, officials said.
Earlier, the second furnace had stopped functioning in 2007. It had a capacity to produce 1,200 tonne of hot metal. The furnace has been shut forever. The third furnace having a capacity to produce 1,200 tonne hot metal became defunct in 2016 and it is not in a position to be repaired, it was learnt.
Meanwhile, the fifth furnace has stopped functioning May 15 and RSP authorities are yet to come out with a clarification as to when it would be in operation again.
Significantly, the fourth furnace was being considered the most productive unit of the plant having a capacity to produce more than 8,000 tonne of hot metal a day. This was considered the biggest blast furnace of Asia. RSP authorities had spent nearly Rs 1,500 crore and several types of modern technologies were used to set up the furnace.
“Being the most productive furnace of the plant, utmost care should have been taken in its maintenance. But due to negligence of our officials, it became dead now,” said a retired official of the plant’s mechanical department on condition of anonymity.
According to him, technical experts working in the unit should ensure proper preventive maintenance. The present crisis is the result of their carelessness, he added.
At present, Annapurna, the fifth and only furnace of the plant is active which produces only 2,000 tonne hot metal a day and it is not adequate to meet the demand of the market. There is a need to manage it properly, otherwise the plant would be shut down with closure of all furnaces, Rourkela Majdoor Union president Ananda Chandra Mohanty said.
The public relation department of the plant said the fifth furnace has gone defunct due to some technical problems and it would be repaired soon. PNN
