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| SAIL starts model village project in Kalta, close to Kalta iron mines in Orissa |
Kalta, a village close to Kalta iron mines in Orissa, is set for a facelift.
The hamlet can boast of steady supply of drinking water, solar lamp-lit streets, a community hall-cum-vocational training centre and self-employed youths after Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) converts it into a “model steel village”.
Ganantra Ojha, the director of personnel and in-charge of SAIL’s raw material division, inaugurated work on parts of the project on Wednesday.
“We have already spent Rs 1.30 crore to develop Kalta’s roads, install 56 solar lamps there and establish a mini-stadium, a community hall-cum-vocational training centre and drinking water supply.
“Further plans include an investment of Rs 25 lakh to develop infrastructure,” Ojha explained.
But SAIL’s plans don’t just end with a pretty and self-sufficient village, as the PSU is also concentrating on people residing there. SAIL has started a centre to teach fishery, sewing and stitching and leaf-plate making to the residents. With that an orchard with 1,000 and odd fruit-bearing trees is also in place to promote employment.
The Kalta project is a part of SAIL’s corporate social responsibility plans and the PSU plans to spend Rs 100 crore and more on it.
A senior company official pointed out that despite incurring losses while operating the Kalta mines, the PSU decided to go ahead with the model steel village plans.
Focusing on remote villages surrounding the mines and plants, SAIL has chalked out plans to develop 16 villages into models, of which nine would be in the mines areas.
SAIL’s raw material division, which operates all mines in the eastern sector, has identified villages around its mines in Orissa, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh.
Likely, expenditure for developing the nine hamlets under the division would be close to Rs 5.56 crore in the current year.
The steel major has been working in the social welfare sector for five decades now and has received accolades, including two national awards and the CSR-FICCI annual award (2006-07), for outstanding achievement in rural and community development initiatives.
The public sector unit has also received the Businessworld Corporate Social Responsibility Award-2006.
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