Nagarnar: In what is being described in steel circles as
unprecedented, Nagarnar Steel
Plant has today achieved the feat of producing its
final product – HR Coil – 9
days after production of Hot Metal. Coming as it does from
a mining major with no prior
experience of steel making, the feat is nothing less
than astounding.
An elated Shri Amitava
Mukherjee, Acting CMD and Director Finance of NMDC who
along with other functional
directors of the company arrived for the event,
expressed satisfaction in
fulfilling NMDC's commitment to Bastar, “For over 6
decades we had been playing a
pivotal role in the domestic steel market as a
supplier of quality iron ore.
With today's development we emerge as the newest
entrant in the domestic steel
market and have put Bastar on the steel map. Today
NMDC joins the coveted league
of Indian steel makers. This is the fulfilment of a
dream that the local community of Bastar had long looked forward to. It gives
me
immense pleasure to have fulfilled our commitment to make their dream a
reality.”
On 12th August, Shri Mukherjee
had blown in Nagarnar Steel Plants' blast furnace
and set the ball rolling for
the final commissioning. It may be mentioned that the
pace of commissioning had
gathered momentum in the recent past under Shri
Mukherjee's leadership and the
Board had been constantly visiting Nagarnar to sort
out bottlenecks and motivate
the team towards their goal and highlighting the
significance of adherence to
safety norms.
Industry veterans remarked that
it is a rare feat to commission three critical units in
the hot zone – Blast Furnace,
Steel Melting Shop and the Mills (Thin Slab Caster –
Hot Strip Mill) – in such a
short period of time. Shri Mukherjee commended the solid
support of all stakeholders
that helped the Project gain pace, “Even as we faced
innumerable challenges, over
the years we have been fortunate to have been
supported at every stage by the
Central and State governments, the Steel Ministry,
the steel industry, other
CPSEs, technological providers, the local community, the
media and all stakeholders. We
would not have reached our goal without their
strong support.”