KALINGANAGAR (ODISHA): Snakes and scorpions crawled the premises of NINL, the land around was covered with bushes and the plant machinery was full of rust, its MD-CEO Sudhir Kumar Mehta said remembering the challenges involved in restarting the sick unit within a set 90-day deadline.
The company was in debt, Mehta said, adding NINL is now doing financially good and has generated a revenue of around Rs 3,000 crore in the April-September or first half of the ongoing fiscal.
On July 4, 2022, Tata Steel completed the acquisition of Odisha-based Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd (NINL) - the first state-owned steel company to be divested by the Centre - through its erstwhile subsidiary Tata Steel Long Products (TSLP) for a consideration of Rs 12,100 crore.
“NINL premises is of 2,500 acre. It had been closed for a long period. When we first entered the unit post the acquisition, there were snakes, scorpions, and lizards crawling in the premises. Bushes up to several feet had grown all over the area and the plant machinery was lying non-functional in rust,’’ Mehta said, replying to a question on the revival of the sick unit.
Accordingly, a detailed plan was chalked out and the entire area was cleaned and made accessible. In August, all the staff were paid their entire salary as per the take over agreement, Mehta said. NINL’s 1 million tonne per annum steel manufacturing unit at Kalinganagar, was closed for over three years on account of various reasons including lack of funds.
TV Narendran, CEO-MD, Tata Steel, said: “The team from Tata Steel and the erstwhile staff of NINL have worked to revive and turnaround a plant that has been shut and we are now operating at full capacity.”