Work on the revival of the Jagdishpur steel plant in Sultanpur being set up by public sector steel giant SAIL has begun in right earnest.
Union minister for steel Beni Prasad Varma visited the plant on Saturday to inspect the progress. This was his second visit since he became minister of state for steel with independent charge. “Work on this project will be completed within the given timeframe and no laxity will be tolerated,” he told reporters expressing satisfaction with the progress. The Jagdishpur plant is a part of Mr Rahul Gandhi’s parliamentary constituency Amethi and the minister is taking keen personal interest in the project.
“It is not just Jagdishpur, we are planning steel plants in other smaller towns as well. Our aim is to increase investment and generate employment in smaller townships,” he said.
Mr Varma, who was accompanied by Congress MLC Naseeb Pathan, said that in the first phase, a sum of `300 crores will be pumped into the revival of the Jagdishpur plant, which was earlier a sick unit of Malvika Steels that had been acquired by SAIL in 2009. He said that a warehouse with a capacity of 12,000 tonnes per annum and a galvanised sheet corrugation unit of a capacity of 13,000 tonnes per annum at the Jagdishpur plant were in final stages of completion and shall be ready for commissioning very soon.
The minister said that for the next phase of expansion, talks were on with Japanese company, Kobe Steel for a steel plant based on direct reduced iron-making technology and electric arc furnace technology.