The Steel Authority of India ltd (SAIl) is providing midday meals to more than 18,000 students in different schools of Bhilai every day, officials stated.
In order to support the existing school infrastructure, SAIl has been providing additional classrooms across the country and such projects are in progress at Bhilai, Durgapur, Bokaro, Rourkela, Burnpur, as well as areas where SAIl carries out mining activities.
A total of 146 schools have been set up in the steel townships for providing modern education to about 70,000 children and assistance has been provided to over 286 schools of villages surrounding steel plants/units for free education of more than 55,000 students.
A total of 225 tribal children at Bhilai and 12 boys of the nearly extinct Birhore tribe at Bokaro have been adopted and are provided free education, boarding and lodging.
SAIl has achieved a girl-boy ratio of 1:1 for all levels of education as well as a survival rate of 96% in its primary schools and 90% in secondary schools. SAIl has also set up 6 Special Schools exclusively for poor, underprivileged, BPl children at its 5 integrated steel plant locations covering around 1,400 children providing free education, Mid-day meals, uniform, including shoes, textbooks, stationery items, school bag, water bottles, etc. With the help of Akshay Patra Foundation
Moreover, SAIl has supported Chhattisgarh Technical University with Rs 50 crore, for promotion of technical education and industry-education collaboration.
Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) have also been set up at Gua Mines and Bokaro and two new ITIs are being set up in Uttar Pradesh.
Scholarships for ITI and nursing courses to people belonging to weaker sections and women, sponsorships to students for technical education, free coaching and assistance to needy and poor children for their higher education, etc., are other areas of focus for SAIl in the field of education.
The modernisation and expansion of Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP) is likely to be completed by March 2016, officials stated.
Notably, SAIl has five integrated steel plants namely, Bhilai Steel Plant in Chhattisgarh, Rourkela Steel Plant in Odhisa, IISCO Steel Plant in West Bengal, Durgapur Steel Plant in West Bengal, Bokaro Steel Plant in Jharkhand and three special steel plants namely, Alloy Steel Plant in West Bengal, Salem Steel Plant in Tamil Nadu, Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Plant in Karnataka.
During the financial year 2014-15, the capacity utilization of SAIl was 79% and that of RINl was 113%, officials stated.
Steel is a deregulated sector and the role of Government is limited to that of a facilitator. The decisions to modernise and expand steel plants are essentially taken by the respective companies, based on commercial considerations, officials stated.
SAIl and RINl have undertaken modernisation and expansion programme funded by their own sources. Modernisation and expansion of Rourkela, IISCO, Durgapur, Bokaro & Salem Steel Plants of SAIl and Vizag steel plant of RINl have been completed.
SAIl has also started setting up the Beneficiation and Pellet Plant of the Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP) at Dallirajhara mines in Chhattisgarh.
The project is being assisted by public sector MECON ltd for required works needed for the plant, officials stated.
Notably, the Dallirajhara mines is one of the two principal sources of iron ore supply to the Bhilai Steel Plant.
Further, the initial stretch of the first phase of the ambitious 235-km-long Dallirajhara-Rowghat-Jagdalpur Railway line project in Bastar division of Chhattisgarh has also been completed, officials stated.
In all, 17 km Rail track has been completed in the first phase and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh has expressed happiness over the achievement.
A successful trial run of a Railway diesel engine was also carried out between Dallirajhara till Gudum village at the speed of 20 km per hour recently.
BSP has accorded the highest priority to taking effective measures in the areas of resource conservation, pollution prevention, waste reduction and conversion of waste to wealth, officials stated.
Effective monitoring and analysis have ensured that BSPs compliance is well within the regulatory requirements, they stated.
The ISO 14001 certification has been implemented in the entire Plant and township as well as in Dallirajhra Mines. The plant has introduced environment friendly coal dust injection system in the Blast Furnaces, de-dusting system and electrostatic precipitators in other units. Besides, Clean Development Mechanisms for green house gas reduction, BSP has taken up the replacement of Ozone Depleting Substance CTC, aided by UNDP.