SAIL, RINL spend Rs 7,000 cr for plants' maintenance in 3 years

Govt is taking all measures to ensure security of people at steel plants: Tomar

State-owned SAIL and RINL together incurred average expenditure of more than Rs 7,000 crore towards maintenance of different plants in the last three financial years, the government said today.

Replying to queries on accidents at steel plants, the government told the Lok Sabha that all measures are being taken to prevent fatal incidents.

Accidents at steel plants are a "matter of concern" and the government is taking all measures to ensure security of people there, Steel Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said.

"It is our responsibility to ensure security at the plants," he said during Question Hour.

There are two public sector steel manufacturing entities -- Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL).

"The average annual expenditure on maintenance of different plants (including expenditure incurred on stores and spares and on employees benefits and remuneration towards repairs and maintenance) of SAIL and RINL during the years 2011-12 to 2013-14 was about Rs 6,165 crore and Rs 868.54 crore, respectively," the Minister said.

According to him, most of the maintenance work is carried out in-house and some have been outsourced.

Tomar said both SAIL and RINL have taken a number of measures to avoid accidents.

These measures include adherence to maintenance schedule, strict adherence to safety procedures, regular inspection and conduct of safety audit, he said.

During an accident in June 2012 at RINL, many people died and damages to property were estimated at Rs 8.71 crore.

All fatal accidents are probed by plant level enquiry committee. In serious accident cases, high level inquiry is ordered by the Ministry in addition to plant level and state government/local authorities' inquiries.

"The recommendations of the enquiry committees are implemented, monitored and reviewed at appropriate levels in plants/units for timely compliances," Tomar said.