PM Modi to dedicate Rs 16,000 cr revamped SAIL Burnpur plant to the nation

In his maiden visit to West Bengal as Prime Minister, Narendra Modi will dedicate the Rs 16,000-crore revamped and modernised IISCO Steel plant at Burnpur to the nation on May 10.

The event can be seen as a sign of renewed industrialisation drive in West Bengal after the revival of the steel plant.

After it was taken over by the government in 1972, IISCO became a fully-owned subsidiary of SAIL in 1978.

"The brand new state-of-the-art IISCO Steel Plant at Burnpur is the fifth integrated steel plant of Steel Authority of India (SAIL), which is "all set to achieve new milestones" in tune with the National Steel Policy", the steel maker said.

The annual hot metal capacity of the plant has been ramped up to 2.9 million tonnes, from the earlier 0.85 million tonne.

"Spread over a compact 953 acres, the new plant is equipped with the latest green technologies with zero emission", it said.

SAIL is also working on adopting techniques to become globally competitive that would reduce the cost of production.

"The revamped plant has already achieved some major milestones, both in production and quality, since 2014. It has started operating the continuous casting plant, and the first batch of 8-mm thermo-mechanical treatment (TMT) bars was produced in January 2015", it said.

"The company's reserves of iron ore are the largest in Asia", SAIL added.