V Ravikumar, President, Ballari District Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said if there are errors on part of JSW Steel it should be corrected rather than demanding for a complete shutdown.
Any stoppage of the furnace will take at least six months to restart and lead to heavy loss particularly when steel demand itself is so low.
Over 2 lakh people are dependent on JSW Steel for livelihood and the company is in trouble since it resumed operations after the lockdown norms were eased, he added.
Ballari accounts for about 15-20 per cent of India’s overall steel production and contributes over ₹7,000 crore annually to the State exchequer.
JSW Steel has extended the work from home option to over 50 per cent of its workforce. It has set up a fever centre within the steel plant premises to check and detect early symptoms of ILI (influenza like illness) or SARI (severe acute respiratory infection), besides converting its two hospitals for Covid treatment.
The company has converted its Jindal Sanjeevani Multi-Specialty Hospital into full-fledged Covid care hospital and offered to convert its OP Jindal Vocational Training Centre into a Covid centre. Currently, the training centre is an isolation centre for suspected Covid cases.
8 June 2019
