Bhusan Steel asked to close 6 sponge iron kilns

BHUBANESWAR: The Orissa State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB) on Wednesday asked Bhusan Steel Ltd at Meramundali to shut down six of its sponge iron kilns for violation of pollution norms. Besides, the company has been asked to close one of its coal-fired boilers as well as the coke oven and oxygen plants for the same reason. The board, which has taken a tough stand on polluters, said the closure direction will remain in force till the company meets the pollution norms. Bhusan Steel has also been directed to suspend all its construction works for Phase-III expansion till it got all statutory clearances. Bhusan Steel Ltd which operates from Meramundali in Dhenkanal, uses eight direct reduced iron (DRI) kilns for its sponge iron plant at present. Member-secretary of OSPCB Sidhanta Das said the company had been directed to close down operation of DRI kilns I, II, IV, V, VI and VII, each having a capacity of 500 tonne a day. Besides, the company has been asked to shut down a 33 Mega Watt coal-fired boiler and coke oven and oxygen plants for not conforming to the pollution control norms as prescribed by OSPCB. “The closure direction will remain in force until they install or rectify all the pollution control systems prescribed by the board,” Das informed. The pollution norms violation will also delay Bhusan’s expansion plans since the board has asked it to stop construction works for the phase-III expansion of the 5.6 MTPA plant till all the statutory clearances are obtained. However, the company has been given consent to operate other installations, including the blast furnace. That was not all. The OSPCB also came down hard on Bhusan Power and Steel at Rengali in Sambalpur for similar violations. The company has been directed to close down operations of four of its eight DRI kilns. The kilns I, II, IV, and VII - each with a capacity of 500 tonne a day, have been directed to shut down. Similarly, a closure notice has been slapped on the cold rolling mill for violation of pollution norms.  Last month, OSPCB had taken Hirakud-based Hindalco Industries Ltd to task for illegal disposal of hazardous waste generated from its plant.