ROURKELA: In a major development, the Steel Authority of India (SAIL) has decided to dissolve the Raw Materials Division (RMD) and shift its headquarter from Kolkata to Rourkela and Bokaro with distribution of captive mines.
Informing this at the Steel Executives’ Federation of India (SEFI), general secretary and RSP executives’ association president Bimal Bisi said in its board meeting on Friday, SAIL took the decision as the RMD headquarters at Kolkata was far away from its captives mines and had turned out to be a white elephant.
SAIL mines located in Odisha would come under the administrative control of the Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) the ones in Jharkhand would come under the jurisdiction of Bokaro Steel Plant (BSP). The employees at RMD headquarters, Kolkata would be shifted to Rourkela and Bokaro.
“The decision would see relocation of around 2,500 RMD employees including 500 executives in addition to 20,000 contract workers,” Bisi said adding, SEFI has been demanding the need of shifting the RMD headquarters from Kolkata for the last 15 years and had made numerous representations in this regard citing financial disadvantages.
To maintain the Kolkata headquarters of RMD, the SAIL was forced to incur about Rs 50 crore annually while under the new arrangements, the RSP and BSP would run their mines with a fraction of the cost, he said.
Bisi further added that the strategic advantages will include better liaison prospects for governments of Odisha and Jharkhand for statutory compliances to augment productions, improve link with Chakradharpur Division of South Eastern Railway for augment dispatch and availability of railway rakes and monitoring of mines besides removing operational hurdles.
Under it, RSP would get control of Bolani, Kalta, Taldihi and Barsuan iron ore mines in Sundargarh and Keonjhar districts of Odisha, while BSP would get Chiria, Megatburu, Kiruburu, Gua, Bhavnathpur and Kuteswar mines in Jharkhand. However, SAIL or RSP sources neither confirmed nor denied the development.
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