Union Minister for Steel and Heavy Industries H D Kumaraswamy inspects the Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Limited (VISL) factory in Bhadravathi of Shivamogga district on Sunday.
DH Photo
Union Minister for Steel and Heavy Industries H D Kumaraswamy, who visited the Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Limited (VISL) in Bhadravathi on Sunday, said that a decision on the future of the plant would be taken soon.
He said that he had conferred with the officials of VISL, besides collecting information on the finances of the company.
Kumaraswamy said that he would explore all feasible options to ensure that the plant bearing Sir M Visvesvaraya’s name is functional.
For more than three hours, the Union Minister interacted with staff from all the rungs of the company so as to get a holistic perspective about VISL’s present situation.
He admitted that making a budgetary allocation for the revival of the plant was not a feasible option.
Kumaraswamy said that VISL had a role to play in helping the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) realise its goal of achieving an annual production of 300 million tonnes of steel by 2030.
“The Parliament is in session and it is not proper to discuss the Central government’s plans for reviving VISL in public at this juncture,” Kumaraswamy said.