A boiler at the Rourkela Steel Plant.

Bhubaneswar, Jan. 17: Authorities of Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) have finally shut down the sintering plant I and the medium-pressure boiler at their captive power plant I.

The sintering plant is crucial to the functioning of the RSP as it processes fine-grained raw material into coarse grain iron-ore particle for charging the blast furnace.

The plant authorities also intimated the officials of state pollution control board about the steps taken by them to bring down the level of pollution in the two units.

Chief executive officer of RSP G.S. Prasad gave the board the details of the action plan to curb pollution at the plant. The plan envisages installing electrostatic precipitators and use of high-grade coal.

“We have initiated measures prescribed by the pollution control board. As per the directive of the board, we have shut down the two units,’ said Prasad.

Earlier, the board had issued a notice for the closure of these two units of the plant on December 19.

On January 5, the RSP officials met the board authorities, requesting them to reconsider the closure notice, as it would affect production. The board told them that any such request could be considered only after the units had been closed down, as compliance of the directive was a must.

The member secretary of the board Siddhant Das said a technical committee would verify the initiatives taken by the plant to control pollution. “After going through the verification report, the board will decide whether to permit these two units to function in future,” said Das.

The board authorities had inspected the plant on August 26 and 27, last year. They had found that several non-compliance of emission norms. The board had also conducted a personal hearing on October 29. It had then directed the RSP authorities to shut down the two units and banned the use of coal in the high-pressure boilers.

The board had also directed the plant to operate all the HP boilers only using a mix gas as fuel.

RSP sources said they had already taken steps to bring down the level of pollution in the plant.

These include use of premium quality coal at boiler 3 of captive power plant I since last November to reduce stack emission, bringing it down to statutory norms.