ROURKELA:Misfortune continues to dog Blast Furnace-V (BF-V) in Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) of SAIL. The BF-V faced another breakdown and stopped working from Sunday evening besides affecting other production units.
General secretary of BMS-affiliated Rourkela Ispat Karkhana Karmachari Sangh (RIKKS), the recognised trade union of RSP, HS Bal informed that BF-V stopped working at about 4 pm on Sunday after the main charging conveyor belt snapped and melted due to heat. He said production of hot metal and BF gas from the blast furnace has been stopped. In absence of BF gas, the functioning of Steel Melting Shop, Rolling Mill, Plate Mill and Hot Strip Mill has also been affected.
Bal said BF-V is likely to be revived by Tuesday night and estimated loss per day would be `15 to `20 crores. It is another blow for RSP as from the third week of May, BF-V had faced total production loss for 15 days after a major breakdown. Recently, the New Plate Mill had also suffered a major breakdown leading to production loss for days. Frequent breakdowns do not augur well for the loss-making RSP, he said and apprehended that the SAIL management might deny festive ex-gratia and pay revision to its employees.
Sources said the main charging conveyor belt was replaced about five months back at a cost of `2 crore. The BF-V would actually take another one week to fully stabilise production, they added.
BF-V ‘Durga’ produces about 8,000 tonnes of hot metal daily and is one of the largest blast furnaces of the country. It is also RSP’s mainstay in hot metal production.
Meanwhile, General Manger (New Plate Mill) Santosh Kumar Mishra and General Manager (Projects) Alok Kumar Kabisatapathy of RSP have been promoted to the post of Executive Directors. Mishra has been posted at Alloy Steel Plant, Durgapur while Kabisatapathy will be joining as Executive Director, Raw Materials Division, SAIL.