Chief Secretary P.K. Mohanty on Wednesday promised to intervene after a top-level delegation asked the State government to help tide over water crisis threatening to make a dent in the production of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant.
The delegation, led by Union Steel secretary G. Mohan Kumar, joint secretary Lokesh Chandra and RINL Chairman-cum-Managing Director P. Madhusudan and others, called on Mr. Mohanty in Hyderabad and apprised him about the seriousness of the problem.
RINL, the corporate entity of VSP, banks on water being supplied to the Kanithi Balancing Reservoir through Yeleru Left Main Canal by Visakhapatnam Industrial Water Supply Company (VIWSCO). RINL, NTPC, Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation and AP Industrial Infrastructure Corporation are stakeholders in VIWSCO.
The team apprised the Chief Secretary about the present water crisis which forced the management to press the panic button. Sources said as against a commitment of 42 million gallons per day, it was getting just 18 to 20 MGD.
Mr. Mohan Kumar also informed the difficulties being faced by RINL due to power holidays imposed by the AP government. Further, the team sought immediate help of the government in tiding over the water and power supply crisis.
The team also stressed the need for increasing the water supply and power requirements since the plant completed the 6.3 million tonne expansion with an investment of Rs.12,300 crore.
An RINL spokesperson said the Chief Secretary assured all help to the company in solving the immediate needs of water and power requirement. He also assured support to RINL in ramping up production from the new units.
