Steel on Environment: Rajya Sabha

Transcription

1 Steel on Environment: Rajya Sabha Q. No. Q. Type Date Ans by Ministry Members Title of the Questions Subject Specific Politica l Party State Representative *250 Starred Steel Shri S. Thangavelu Scaling down of iron ore mines for environmental clearance EIA DMK Tamil Nadu 2753 Unstarred Steel Shri Devender Goud T Unstarred Steel Shri N.K. Singh Growth rate in steel production *231 Starred Steel Shri Pyarimohan Mohapatra 1718 Unstarred Steel Shri Ambeth Rajan Accident in Vizag Steel Plant Disaster Management TDP Andhra Pradesh Health and Sanitation Energy Studies JD(U) Bihar Completion of steel projects EIA IND. Odisha Energy Studies R and D in Steel Sector Energy Studies BSP Uttar Pradesh Environmental Education, NGOs and Media Pollution

2 SCALING DOWN OF IRON ORE MINES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL CLEARANCE 14 th March, 2013 RSQ *250 SHRI S. THANGAVELU (a) whether the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) was forced to scale down operation of iron ore mines in Odisha and Jharkhand due to holding up of environmental clearances; (b) if so, the details thereof; (c) whether this would trigger raw material scarcity for its Bokaro Plant in Jharkhand and integrated steel plant in Burnpur in West Bengal; and (d) if so, the details thereof? (a)to(d): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House. STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (A) TO (D) OF THE RAJYA SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.*250 FOR ANSWER ON 14/03/2013 TABLED BY SHRI S. THANGAVELU, MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT REGARDING SCALING DOWN OF IRON ORE MINES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL CLEARANCE (a)&(b): Non availability of environmental clearances has resulted in closure of SAIL s Sukri latur mine since March 2009, Gua mine since June 2011, intermittent closure of Bolani mines in the year and for about 90 days and Dhobil mine for five months. (c)&(d): No, Sir. Although closure of above mines created some shortfall of iron ore for SAIL plants in later half of , this was addressed by conversion of iron ore fines from SAIL mines into pellets through Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Limited (KIOCL). Further, the situation has been normalized by scaling up production in other mines and opening of Bolani mine. ACCIDENT IN VIZAG STEEL PLANT 21 st March, 2013 RSQ 2753 SHRI DEVENDER GOUD T. (a) whether one of the worst industrial accidents in steel industry took place in Vizag Steel Plant in June this year where twenty people were charred to death; (b) if so, the details of the accident; (c) the reasons behind accident; (d) the action the Ministry has taken on the culprits; and (e) the reasons that in the recently released data by Centre for Science and Environment green ratings, VSP is at the rock bottom? (a)&(b): Yes, Sir. On 13th June 2012 while commissioning Converter-1 of Steel Melting Shop-2 in Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), an accident took place due to explosion in the Oxygen Pressure Reducing Station people lost their lives. Among the victims 12 were employees of RINL-VSP while 4 and 3 were the employees of Consultant and Contractors respectively. (c)&(d): Government of India constituted a High Level Committee to investigate the incident and to make necessary recommendations to prevent recurrence of such incidents in future. The recommendations made by the committee are taken into consideration while finalizing the new specification for revival of the unit. The inquiry was also got done by Directorate of Factories by a three member committee and RINL has taken actions

3 for compliance of recommendations. A training programme was also exclusively got conducted on Prevention of Fire in Oxygen enriched systems by a renowned professor from IIT, Kharagpur. Safety department has been further strengthened with appointment of an Executive Director. (e) RINL is one of the top 3 steel companies as rated by Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi. RINL has also been awarded 3 leaves and is rated among the top three performing steel plants in respect of environment by Centre for Science and Environment. GROWTH RATE IN STEEL PRODUCTION 25 th April, 2013 RSQ 3378 SHRI N.K. SINGH (a) whether it is a fact that the steel production had a growth rate of 0.5 percent in February, 2013 against its 8.7 percent growth in February, 2012; (b) if so, the details thereof; (c) whether Government is proposing any corrective measures to reverse this trend; and (d) if so, the details thereof? (a) & (b): No, Sir. Provisional data released by Joint Plant Committee (JPC) indicates that production for sale of total finished steel increased by 0.5% in February 2013 as compared to a growth of 4.3% (and not 8.7%) of February (c) & (d): Steel being a deregulated sector, the role of the Government is that of a facilitator providing a conducive policy environment. The Government has taken the following steps to support the competitive production and capacity growth of the steel industry. (i) The Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) namely Steel Authority of India Ltd. (SAIL), Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd. (RINL) & NMDC Ltd., are in the process of implementing significant expansion in the crude / finished steel capacities in their respective brownfield / Greenfield locations. (ii) An Inter Ministerial Group (IMG) has been set up by the Government for effective coordination and to expedite implementation of various investment projects in the steel sector. (iii) Import of critical raw materials for steel industry such as coking coal, non-coking coal, scrap etc. are subject to zero or very low levels of customs duty. (iv) To encourage domestic value addition and improve domestic iron ore availability, duty on export of iron ore has been increased to 30 per cent. (v) The Ministry of Steel routinely consults the industry to be apprised of the constraints to growth and recommends necessary corrective measures as and when necessary, to other concerned ministries. COMPLETION OF STEEL PROJECTS 6 th February, 2014 RSQ *231 SHRI PYARIMOHAN MOHAPATRA (a) the number of steel projects, construction of which started during UPA-1 and UPA-2 regime, State-wise; (b) the number of projects not yet completed, State-wise and the reasons in each case; and (c) the reasons for completed steel projects not producing upto their capacity? (a)to(c): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

4 STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (A) TO (C) OF THE RAJYA SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.*231 FOR ANSWER ON 06/02/2014 TABLED BY SHRI PYARIMOHAN MOHAPATRA, MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT REGARDING COMPLETION OF STEEL PROJECTS (a)to(c): At present, there are two public sector steel manufacturing companies under the Ministry of Steel namely Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited(RINL). Massive modernization and expansion plans have been launched in Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) for increasing their steel making capacity. NMDC Limited has also decided to set up a 3 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) steel plant at Chhattisgarh. The details are as under: (I) Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) (i) SAIL Board approved modernization & expansion plan at its five integrated steel plants at Bhilai (Chhattisgarh), Bokaro (Jharkhand), Rourkela (Orissa), Durgapur & Burnpur (West Bengal), special steel plant at Salem (Tamil Nadu) from 2007 to The Plan envisaged increase in production capacity from 12.8 Mtpa to 21.4 Mtpa. Besides increasing the production capacity, the Plan addresses the vital issues of elimination of technological obsolescence, installing energy efficient & environment friendly technologies, value addition/ product mix improvement/ sustenance of existing assets of the plants. The expansion plan involves installation of state-of-the-art high capacity Blast Furnaces, Coke Oven Batteries, Sinter Plants, Convertor Shops and Finishing Mills, including associated facilities at various integrated steel plants of SAIL. (ii) The expansion project at Salem Steel Plant has been completed. Major facilities in Rourkela Steel Plant & IISCO Steel Plant at Burnpur are near completion. Facilities in Bhilai Steel Plant, Durgapur Steel Plant and Bokaro Steel Plant are at advanced stage of erection and commissioning. The implementation of projects has been affected mainly due to unforeseen soil conditions encountered, underestimation of quantities by the consultant, logistic problems due to brownfield nature of job, inadequate mobilization of resources by the contracting agencies, etc. (II) Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) The Government of India on 28th October,2005 approved expansion plan of RINL to expand its production capacity from the existing capacity of 3.0 mtpa to 6.3 mtpa of liquid steel in the State of Andhra Pradesh. The 6.3 Mtpa Expansion plan is being implemented in two Stages. Stage-1 consists of Blast Furnace-3, Sinter Plant- 3, Steel Melt Shop-2, Wire Rod Mill-2, Raw Material Handling System and other auxiliary units. Stage-2 consists of Special Bar Mill and Structural Mill. Stage-1: Stage-1 of 6.3 Mtpa Expansion is almost complete, with commissioning of several major units viz. Blast Furnace-3, Sinter Plant-3, Steel Melt Shop-2, Raw Material Handling System and other auxiliary units - Turbo Blower-4, Boiler-6, TG-5, Oxygen Plant, Power, Utility & Water systems etc. These units are under operation and are getting stabilised to ramp up the production quickly. Production in Wire Rod Mill-2 commenced with rolling of first coil on 31st January, Stage-2: Second stage of expansion includes installation of Special Bar Mill and Structural Mill. Major Civil & Structural works are complete. Commissioning of these units is planned in the end of 1st quarter/early 2nd quarter of Reasons for delay inter alia include delay in finalization of consultant, placement of orders, tenderers not adhering to the time schedule, long monsoon period & intensive rainfall in 2010, delays in supply of equipment etc. (III) NMDC Ltd. NMDC Ltd. has since started construction of a 3 mtpa Greenfield integrated steel plant at Nagarnar, District- Bastar in Chhattisgarh with an approved project cost of Rs crores. Works of about Rs crores have been awarded and an amount of approximately Rs crores have been spent. Land acquisition for the project was completed in August,2010. Thereafter, enabling works like site levelling, power supply, water works etc. have started. The project is in construction stage and commissioning activities are planned by April,2016. (IV) Private Sector

5 Steel is a de-regulated sector. As per the available information, there are around 3647 private steel factories/plants in the country. However, the requisite data regarding all steel projects of private sector steel companies are not maintained by the Ministry of Steel. Many large capacity Integrated Steel Plants in the Greenfield/Brownfield have come up in the private sector in the recent past e.g. Essar s Hazira Plant, JSW s Vijaynagar Plant, Bhushan Steel Limited Plant in Odisha etc. The Crude Steel capacity in the country has increased from mt in the year to mt in Most of these capacity additions have taken place in the private sector. The contribution of this sector in steel production stands at about 83% at present. There are reports of delay in implementation of some of the steel projects. The main reasons for this include delay in obtaining the statutory clearances, pending land acquisition, issues of Mining Lease/Prospecting Lease, law & order problems at project sites and resistance by the project affected people. As per the JPC data, the capacity utilisation of steel plants in the country is about 81 percent. The reasons for completed steel projects not producing up to their capacity include ongoing process of ramping up of new capacities, slackness in demand and regional shortages of raw material linkages. R AND D IN STEEL SECTOR 6 th February, 2014 RSQ 1718 SHRI AMBETH RAJAN (a) whether Government has undertaken any Research and Development (R&D) activity in the Steel Sector; (b) if so, the details thereof; and (c) the details of the outcome thereof? (a) Yes, Sir. (b)&(c): In order to provide thrust on Research & Development (R&D), the Ministry of Steel is encouraging R&D activities both in public and private steel sectors by providing financial assistance from Steel Development Fund (SDF) and Plan Scheme of the Central Government. Under the SDF scheme, 82 R&D projects have been approved with total project cost of Rs. 677 crore wherein SDF assistance is Rs. 370 crore. Some projects have already been implemented by the Steel Plants and are yielding benefits in improvement in productivity, reduction in energy consumption and pollution etc. Under the Plan Scheme, 8 projects were approved with a total cost of Rs crore wherein Government assistance is Rs crore. These projects relate to development of technologies for beneficiation and utilisation of inferior grades of iron ore and coal and also for Improvement in quality of steel through the induction furnace. Through the completed project, a process has been developed in laboratory scale for production of Low Phosphorus Steel in Induction Furnace.