Team News Riveting
Raipur, September 24
Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP), an arm of state-run Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), has reported partial loss in production following the coal crisis.
The depleting stock of imported coking coal in BSP for the last few days has partially affected the production, the company said in a statement. Following the development, the pushing of coke into the coke oven had to be reduced.
The imported coking coke plays an important role in the production of steel in the SAIL facility located in the Durg district of Chhattisgarh. BSP requires huge quantities of indigenous and foreign coal to prepare coke in coke ovens every day. It uses 80 per cent foreign and only 20 per cent indigenous coal. Coking gas is produced from coal in a coke oven and sent to furnaces, and mills.
Sources said that the supply of coke and gas to the furnaces had been disrupted that subsequently affected the production in the Universal Rail Mill, Wire Rod Mill, Merchant Mill, Bar and Rod Mill. The BSP spokesperson in a statement said production had been partially affected and efforts were on to bring normalcy in the supply.
“The BSP management is making all efforts to overcome the coal crisis with the help of the Railways,” the BSP spokesperson said in a statement. The stock has seen some increase in volume and the situation is likely to return to normal in a few days, it added.
The coal crisis in BSP deepened due to the non-availability of rakes. The company has been importing coal from Australia and has been ferrying from Visakhapatnam port to Bhilai by rail.
The BSP officials said they had been in communication with the Railway officials for rakes while loading had been escalated in the port. Despite the rail section being the busiest, efforts are on to chug maximum rakes to the plant, the officials said.
