The Union Minister of Steel, Shri Beni Prasad Verma has been long emphasizing on the need for setting up Steel Processing Units (SPUs) to increase the steel demand in rural areas and to boost steel consumption.
With this idea on mind, the Minister of Steel laid the foundation stone of a Steel Processing factory at Koyle Jungle, Gonda (UP) on 9th September, 2013, which will be set up by RINL.
Similar units at Dimroni, Jhansi (MP) and Chunar, Mirzapur (UP) were inaugurated by the Hon’ble Minister of Steel on 8th August 13 and 13th July 13 respectively. These both SPUs will be set up by SAIL.
These each factories are expected to produce 1,00,000 tonnes of TMT each year.
Earlier the Minister laid the foundation of a 72,000 tonne per annum steel processing factory at Kurke, Ambedkar Nagar. Shri Verma also inaugurated two other steel processing units, one at Risia, Bahraich on 24th June and another at Parsapur, Gonda on 16th June.
Key point to note is that Steel Processing units have been set up by PSUs under the Ministry of Steel in association with private companies. The raw material for steel processing in these factories will be provided by the PSUs and the products will be sold in rural markets at affordable prices.
It is to be noted that these efforts are aimed to bridge the inequality between the national consumption of 60 kg of steel per capita per year and rural consumption of 10 kg per capita per year. With the setting up of these factories various steel products will be made available to remote rural districts at cost effective prices. These units are also sought to provide employment and facilitate rapid development of the region.
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