ROURKELA : Even as economy of Birmitrapur town in tribal-dominated Sundargarh district is in deep crisis amid dwindling fate of the loss-making PSU mining company Bisra Stone Lime Company Limited (BSLC), the proposed cement plant of Steel Authority of India (SAIL) remains a non-starter after seven years of its inception.
In the changed scenario, pressure is building on SAIL to materialise the proposal after it virtually abandoned it in recent years.
Sources said SAIL had floated advertisement inviting expression of interest to set up a joint venture slag-based cement plant of 2.1 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) capacity at Purunapani, about 12 kms from Birmitrapur in 2007. The plan, however, got entangled in two court cases which were eventually disposed of a couple of years later.
It was proposed to source raw materials from the non-functional dolomite and limestone mines of SAIL at Purunapani and also use slag and fly ash generated in the Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP).
Ever since, SAIL has been maintaining a stoic silence on the proposal. During his visit in 2012, SAIL Chairman CS Verma had in a cryptic reply said, “The project was in nascent stage with no further progress.”
Birmitrapur MLA George Tirkey, a BJD delegation and other pressure groups had met Union Minister of State for Steel and Mines Vishnu Deo Sai during his recent visit and urged him to start the cement plant and revive BSLC at the earliest to save the economy of the region.
George said as Birmitrapur, located on Odisha-Jharkhand border, is infested by Jharkhand-based splinter Maoist outfit PLFI, there was an urgent need to revive the economy to prevent any backlash over joblessness.
He said the Minister accepted suggestion to revive BSLC by transferring the company’s management from its holding company Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) to SAIL.
The BSLC, despite being the only economic lifeline of Birmitrapur, has been consistently incurring loss for mismanagement and now remains closed for technical reasons.
SAIL sources said there has been no attempt by SAIL to set up the cement plant as of now. SAIL has joint venture cement companies known as Bhilai Jaypee Cement Limited and Bokaro Jaypee Cement Limited with combined capacity of 4.3 MTPA at Bhilai and Bokaro.