NINL staff urges Centre to ask SAIL to run the plant

BHUBANESWAR: Employees of crisis-ridden Neelachal Ispat Nigam Limited (NINL) in Odisha on Sunday urged the Centre to immediately ask psu steel major like Steel Authority of India (SAIL) to run the plant.

Lack of working capital has

led to shut down of major units

like Steel Melting Shop (SMS) and blast furnace of the plant at Kalinga Nagar steel hub, Neelachal Executive Association (NEA) president Subash Chandra Sahoo said.

"Immediate steps must be taken for the resumption of normal operations at the plant and we urge the Central government to direct psu steel major like SAIL to run the plant during the transition period," Sahoo said.

The NEA president in a statement said "Severe liquidity crunch has forced the authorities to suspend production at the plant though coke oven is operating with 40 to 43 per cent capacity as it has to run continuously to prevent permanent damage."

He said NINL plunged into crisis as MMTC, which holds the majority stake of 49.6 per cent in the company, has decided to divest its share and allegedly stopped infusion of working capital for running of the plant since last June.

As a result, equipment condition is fast deteriorating because of the shutdown and reduced capacity utilisation, while interest burden to the company is more than 1 crore per day and its net worth is going down, Sahoo said.

"Now that the main promoter MMTC has decided to quit NINL, it will be prudent to review the proposal to merge it with steel behemoth SAIL," he said.