Jajpur: A draft internal audit report has claimed the state-owned Nilachal Ispat Nigam Ltd (NINL) at Kalinganagar has incurred a loss of Rs 1.53 crore towards dead freight for transportation of raw materials in rails, a report said Tuesday.
The audit carried out from April 2018 to July 2018 says the steel plant has incurred a loss of Rs 1, 53, 39,000 during the period towards dead freight for short loading of raw materials like iron ore fines, coals, limestone and dolomite in trains for which the concerned audit agency has sought a clarification from the finance department of the plant.
However, the finance department seems to have no knowledge about the loss incurred by the plant. It is alleged the Centre was trying to merge the loss-making steel plants in the country with the Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL) but senior NINL officials are not cooperating in this regard.
The plant has to incur the loss due to short loading in the wagons during transportation of raw materials from Paradip, Joda, Barbil, Daitari, Biramitrapur through goods trains.
It is a four-month loss but if the total loss towards dead freight is taken into account, it might be over Rs 100 crore, the audit report said. Raw materials weighing 56279.800 tonne in 14 rakes should come in the month of April. However, only 53422.870 tonne of raw materials arrived at the plant during the period.
Accordingly, the plant received 2856.93 tonne less raw materials in April for which it has to incur a loss of Rs 11, 47,439 during the period. Similarly, the plant incurred a loss of Rs 51,92,647 in May, Rs 37,55,690 in June and Rs 52,44,101 in July towards dead freight.
The NINL has been incurring losses of over Rs 1000 crore since the 2011-12. It was expected that the plant would witness a revival after it undertook blast furnace repair at a cost of Rs 80 crore in April. It even created a record by producing hot metal over 83,690 tonne in July. However, the October 7 explosion in its blast furnace resulted in a slump.
The plant is not new to controversy as the blast raised doubts about the quality of repair works done in the blast furnace six months back. Serious irregularities are alleged to have taken place in the repairing works. Allegations of Rs 80 crore irregularities in purchase of coals were levelled against the plant in 2013.
It was alleged the authorities had bought sub-standard coals from Baron company in Australia for use in the coke oven. The plant had incurred loss of Rs 1.8crore in tenders for maintenance of its coke oven battery.
When contacted, NINL’s finance director SV Sahi said he is yet to receive the audit’s report and would take further action after discussions with the commerce department officials.
PNN