Most of the units in Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd - Visakhapatnam steel plant have resumed production and are currently operating at 90 per cent capacity and some are at 60 per cent in the aftermath of the Hudhud cyclone which hit the city a month ago, according to a press release issued here on Thursday.
The plant operations came to a halt as there was no power supply for four days after the cyclone.
Revival of operations and resumption of production at all the units have been very quick, smooth and safe. Coordinated efforts have helped in bringing back the plant operations to normalcy.
Some of the units such as the captive power plant, raw material handling plant and coke ovens are operating at 90 per cent capacity, while the blast furnaces and steel melt shop are at 60 per cent. The furnaces and SMS will shortly touch the rated capacities.
RINL has restored its captive power generation to around 225 MW currently, thereby reducing dependency on the state grid, the release said.
Chairman and Managing Director P. Madhusudan said all the rolling mills, including the new wire rod mill-2, have commenced production and "the products have started reaching the market in various parts of the country. All the necessary steps are being put in place to ramp up the production and reach the full capacities in steel melt shop and blast furnaces within next one week time."
Repairs to the roofs have been taken up on a war footing and work in critical areas has already been completed. Replacement of damaged roof sheets in other areas is likely to start in a day or two and it may be completed in a month.