Bhubaneswar: Odisha government was taking steps to hand over the Kalinga Iron Works Limited (KIWL) to Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) as the state PSU turned out to be a loss making unit.
This was stated by Industries Minister Debi Prasad Mishra while replying to a written question of BJP MLA Dilip Kumar Ray in the assembly.
"The government is taking steps to hand over the Keonjhar based unit to Sail," the minister said.
Stating that the KIWL, run by the Industrial Development Corporation of Orissa Ltd (IDCOL) had been incurring regular losses since 2008-09, the minister said the KIWL has capacity of producing 1,70,000 metric tons of pig iron per annum.
However, only 71,248 mt of pig iron was manufactured at KIWL during the last three years, the minister said adding that out of four furnaces in the unit, only two furnances remained operational during last three years. While furnace number 1 functioned for only 69 days in 2013-14, the furnance number 2 worked for 118 days in that year, Mishra said.
MLA Dilip Ray mentioned that the KIEL was a pet project of legendary leader and former Chief Minister Biju Patnaik.
Official sources said that KIWL's modernatisation would require Rs 2500 crore.