ROURKELA: On path to recovery after prolonged financial trouble, the local management of Bisra Stone Company Ltd (BSLC) at Birmitrapur in Sundargarh district has come under scanner after being accused of ruining the revival prospects of the PSU mining company.
Following decades of losses, BSLC has returned to profit zone over the past five years after then Birmitrapur MLA of BJP Shankar Oram launched a sustained campaign for its revival from 2019. For the first time in 2020-21, the BSLC saw profit after direct intervention of then Union Steel Minister and present Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
On Friday, Oram met Pradhan and highlighted several issues which potentially jeopardise the company’s revival efforts. He urged Pradhan to take up the issues with Union Steel Minister HD Kumaraswamy to save the BSLC.
Oram claimed it appears that the BSLC’s controlling company Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL) is clandestinely involved in raising financial burden on the company, creating unrest among the local workforce and sabotaging its profit and growth prospects.
A handful of old executives drawing monthly salary of Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh as per the pay scale of 1997 had successfully ensured profit for the past five years. But now, some executives of RINL are drawing Rs 2 to Rs 2.5 lakh per month as per the pay scale of 2007, which puts huge and avoidable financial burden on the company struggling for recovery, he alleged.
Oram further said the BSLC was selling dolomite directly to end-user PSU of SAIL’s RSP under an MoU. But the new management from November has appointed Rourkela-based FLUX MINING LLP to sell 30 to 60 mm dolomite to RSP. This smacks of corruption in form of commission, he alleged.
The former MLA claimed previously a firm was involved in raising of limestone for Rs 191 per tonne which, under an open tender, was given to another firm at an enhanced cost of Rs 229 per tonne. He demanded removal of the RINL executives from the management of BSLC and appointment of executives and skilled workers through advertisement.
The company should be run under the watchful eye of an independent authority of the Steel Ministry, he added.
Reliable sources informed that as of 2025, the accumulated loss of BSLC stands at around Rs 211 crore, while the negative net worth of the company is around Rs 118 crore.