The maiden regional conference of Eastern States, on the theme of ‘Enhancing steel consumption in India’ was inaugurated by Union Minister of Steel, Chaudhary Birender Singh on Thursday at Gangtok, Sikkim. Considering the low per capita steel consumption at 61 Kg in India vis-à-vis the world average of 208 Kg, there is a significant potential for improving the domestic steel consumption and this conference will explore all such avenues of steel use promotion.
Speaking on the occasion, the Minister emphasised on the numerous advantages of steel and promotion of steel intensive structures for longevity, safety and reducing costs during the construction and added that steel industry should develop innovative ways to make common man understand the numerous advantages of Steel. The regional conference was also attended by Sunil Barthwal, Jt Secy, Steel Ministry, PK Singh, Chairman, SAIl, M Bhaduri, CMD, HSCl and Sushim Banerjee DG, INSDAG and representatives from private steel sector.