Steel Minister warns senior officials, says no laxity will be tolerated
New Delhi: Steel Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh has warned senior officials of his ministry that no laxity will be tolerated in performance at any level and there has to be accountability and a result-oriented approach in their working.
In his weekly review meeting with senior officials of the steel ministry on Tuesday, Singh has tasked them to play an active role in transforming and turning around steel PSUs, the Ministry of Steel said in the statement on Wednesday.
The minister made it clear that senior officials will be responsible for monitoring the performance of individual steel plants through ground visits and reviews, the statement added.
While outlining the agenda for the future, the minister remarked that "no laxity will be tolerated at any level and there has to be accountability and a result-oriented approach built into the work culture of Ministry of Steel and the PSUs".
He also asked officials to check the progress of each plant in terms of achievements of the targets set out for them. They have also been directed to work on instituting an award for the best performing plant among steel PSUs so that other plants get inspired, it said.
An expert committee, which was constituted by the ministry has also made recommendations for improving production of these plants, the statement said.
Steel Secretary Aruna Sharma, joint secretaries and other officials of the ministry attended the meeting.
The minister had earlier said that steel PSUs are not holy cows and should step out of their comfort zone to perform and compete with private players.
Domestic steel major Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) had reported a net loss of Rs 801.38 crore during the June quarter of the ongoing fiscal, owing to higher expenses. The steelmaker was in loss of Rs 535.52 crore in the corresponding quarter of 2016-17 also.
Besides SAIL, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd, NMDC Ltd, KIOCL Ltd, MECON Ltd, MOIL Ltd , MSTC Limited and Hindustan Steel Works Construction Ltd (HSCL) are also under the Ministry of Steel.
