The Hindu Business Line : More captive coal blocks promised for steel units

The Union Minister of State for Coal, Mr Dasari Narayana Rao (right), with Mr Y. Sivasagara Rao, Chairman and Managing Director, Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, at the India International Refractories Congress which began in the plant on Friday. - C.V. Subrahmanyam

Visakhapatnam , Feb. 3

COAL India has identified 136 coal blocks for allocation to power, steel and cement sectors for captive consumption and the Union Government is according priority to the steel sector, Mr Dasari Narayana Rao, the Union Minister of State for Coal, has said.

He was delivering the inaugural address at the two-day India International Refractories Congress-2006 which began in the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant on Friday. It was jointly organised by the plant, the Vizag chapter of the Indian Institute of Metals in association with the Indian Ceramic Society and Indian Refractory Makers' Association.

The Minister said that since assuming power, the UPA Government had allocated 40 coal blocks for captive consumption to these sectors, with total coal reserves of more than 10 billion tonnes. "This is significant since only 49 blocks with 5 billion tonnes of coal reserves were allocated between 1993 and 2004," he said.

He said that of the 115 projects given access to captive coal, 78 were of sponge iron, pig iron and steel. "I am happy to state that Visakhapatnam Steel Plant is one of them. The VSP has been allocated the Mahal coal block in Jharkhand with huge reserves of 1,100 million tonnes of coal."

He said all steps were being taken to boost coal production in the country and "recently coal linkage has been given to 25 sponge iron units. I have instructed the department to speed up allocation to 100 more sponge iron units."

He said Coal India was also contemplating acquisition of coking coal properties abroad to enhance the energy security. "A proposal for the formation of Coal Videsh Ltd will also be sent for the consideration of the Cabinet," he said.

He said the refractories in the country would have to upgrade their technologies and produce quality products at cheaper costs. He exhorted them to rise to the challenge.

Mr Y. Sivasagara Rao, the Chairman and Managing Director of the steel plant, said that the national steel policy envisaged production of 60 million tonnes of steel by 2012 and 110 million tonnes by 2020 and "therefore the future of refractories is bright, as steel units account for the bulk of consumption". The steel units alone may need one million tonnes of refractories in the future and "the refractory industry in the country has the capacity to produce 1.7 million tonnes. But the need is for clean, green and energy-efficient refractories".

Dr B.N Singh, the CEO of Jindal South West Steel Ltd, and several other experts spoke. Thirty-five delegates from abroad participated in the congress.