Bokaro, June 30: Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) today announced yet another voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) scheme and called upon employees to respond by the end of September.

All those employees who have completed 10 years of service or attained the age of 40 years will be eligible.

Managing directors of the SAIL subsidiaries will have the authority to approve applications up to the level of the assistant general manager. But for officers above the rank of AGM, the approval will have to come from the SAIL chairman.

Bokaro Steel Limited (BSL), which has an employee strength of 34,000, would like to reduce its manpower to 25,000 by 2008 and downsize it further to 18,000 by 2012.

BSP sources claimed that 500 to 700 employees are retiring every year and the number is expected to go up to around 1,400 after 2007. With steel technology undergoing revolutionary changes and competition getting tougher, steel plants are required to cut down on operational costs, explained company officials.

If the response to the scheme turns out to be lukewarm, they hinted, SAIL might resort to inter-plant transfer of those employees who have between two and seven years of service left. If senior employees on the verge of retirement are transferred, the officials hoped, they would be more amenable to avail of voluntary retirement.

While BSL is seeking to cut down on manpower, the exodus of more senior people at the middle and top levels is creating a void. Several senior managers and technical experts have already left BSL in recent months to join the Mittals, Ispat group, Kalyani Steel, Usha Martin and others.

With managing director Uday Pratap Singh also due to retire by the year-end, BSL is likely to face an acute shortage of technical hands. A fresh recruitment of experts is on the anvil, said sources.