Visa Steel resumes operations at Kalinganagar plant

The pollution board had slapped a closure direction last month for failing to comply with the pollution norms

Visa Steel said it has resumed operations at its DRI plant in Odisha's Kalingangar for production of sponge iron after obtaining the necessary clearance from the State Pollution Control Board (SPCB). Production has also restarted from the two submerged arc furnaces at the company's ferro alloys plant engaged in ferro chrome production.

The pollution board had slapped a closure direction last month on both the company run units for failing to comply with the air and water pollution norms.

With the improvement in raw material availability, the operational performance at Visa Steel had significantly improved during the July-September quarter of 2016-17. The production of ferro chrome has increased from 17,008 tonne to 24,274 tonne in this period, a year-on-year (y-o-y) growth of 43%, the company said in a statement.

The generation of captive power plant has seen a y-o-y growth of 55% in the quarter under review. Blast furnace production jumped 264% from 12,577 tonne to 45,838 tonne during this period. Production at DRI plant also rose from 38,745 tonne to 47,410 tonne, logging a y-o-y growth of 22%.

The operations of SMS and rolling mill for producing special steel bars & wire rods have started from the last week of July 2016. Visa Steel has recently opened a stockyard at Faridabad for improving the distribution of its special steel products in North India.