Calcutta, April 23 :    Calcutta, April 23:  The sudden decision of Steel Authority of India Ltd to cut down on funds support may halt production and all other operations at its wholly-owned unit, the Alloy Steels Plant in Durgapur. SAIL has cut down the funds allocated to ASP for purchase of raw materials. Besides, the cash-strapped plant is unable to despatch its products as it does not have the funds needed to pay excise duty on finished goods. ASP sources said the plant could not even despatch products against fixed orders due to cash crunch. ?In the last two months, operations at the plant have been minimised to a large extent,? they added. While SAIL maintained a cash support of Rs 21 crore per month during April-November 1998, it brought this down to Rs 12 crore in December. It was Rs 9 crore in February 1999 and in March, it was raised marginally to Rs 11.6 crore. ?The immediate fund requirement for despatch of goods and raw material purchase is Rs 25 crore,? SAIL officials said. Meanwhile, at a meeting with the National Joint Committee for Steel Industry (NJCS) representatives?among them M.K. Pandhe and Ardhendu Dakhi of Citu and Madan Sarkar of Intuc?SAIL chairman Arvind Pande assured that some steps will be taken for ASP. When contacted, Madan Sarkar said, ?The chairman has assured us that S.K. Bhattacharya, a SAIL director, will be sent to ASP to interact with the unions and find a possible survival strategy.?