Zee Media Bureau
Kolkata: In his maiden visit to West Bengal as Prime Minister, Narendra Modi on Sunday dedicated the Rs 16,000-crore revamped and modernised IISCO Steel plant at Burnpur to the nation.
Addressing a large public meeting at Burnpur after dedicating to the nation the 2.5 MT modernized and expanded IISCO steel plant at Burnpur, the Prime Minister mentioned various instances of cooperative federalism of recent months, including the setting up of the NITI Aayog, and the devolution of additional revenues to the states through acceptance of the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission.
Modi also described the Centre and 29 state governments as 30 pillars of "Team India" which would take India forward.
He said it was time for India to address the issue of "geographical imbalance" too along with economic and social imbalance.
The Prime Minister further added that eastern India too should develop as fast as western India is developing, and for that, development of Bengal is essential.
PM also said that within a year, the atmosphere of gloom has lifted, and all global rating agencies now agree that India is among the world's fastest growing economies.
Talking about the districts in which coal mines have been allotted, Modi said a Foundation will be created in each of them and a portion of royalty earned through auction will go to it to benefit locals.
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, 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.
Wiith PTI Inputs
