The country's biggest blast furnace will be made operational at the Rourkela Steel Plant in Odisha by July of this year. This was stated by Chairman of public sector steel giant Steel Authority of India Chandra Sekhar Verma in Bhubaneshwar today. He said the blast furnace will be of 4060 meter cube.

Briefing media persons after meeting Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Verma said SAIL had taken up expansion and modernisation work in the Rourkela plant at an investment of 12,000 crore rupees. He also said SAIL’s iron ore mine at Bolani in Sundergarh district will continue operation. Bolani iron ore mine’s forest clearance lapsed recently and therefore, the company faced closure of the mine.

However, Verma said the Odisha Government has already taken up the matter with the Centre for extension of the forest clearance and hoped that the matter will be sorted out very soon. He said public sector undertakings should get priority in matter of raw material as they social objectives besides commercial objectives.