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SAIL mulls closing Durgapur Alloy Steel Plant, VRS for Salem unit

Steel Authority of India Limited is seriously considering closure of Alloy Steel Plant or ASP at Durgapur to get rid of the loss making unit.

SAIL will introduce voluntary retirement scheme in the Salem plant next month.

This will mark the beginning of the process of pruning its staff by 75,000 over the next five years.

SAIL chairman Arvind Pande said that despite various efforts for restructuring, ASP continued to be a white elephant for the cash-strapped steel major and it appeared that very few options were left out for its revival.

He, however, said no final decision had been taken yet and discussions were still on to find out a way to avoid closure of the unit.

As part of one of the last-ditch attempts, the hot metal unit of Durgapur Steel Plant was being transferred to ASP on May 15 to prop up its prospects before going in for any extreme measure, Pande said.

''We are not in favour of closing down ASP provided we come across any viable option, but we can not go on with the burden of a loss-making unit at the cost of profit-making ones,'' he said.

Pande denied that ASP management was responsible for the condition of the unit and said the situation went out of hand because of various other reasons.

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