With the blowing in of gases at the blast furnace, beginning early this morning at the IISCO Steel Plant of Steel Authority of India Ltd, the process of integrated commissioning has begun.
Although the project has suffered huge time and cost overruns, it is significant as much for investment starved West Bengal, as for SAIL for whom it is the first green field project in three decades.
For West Bengal, the Rs 17,000 crore estimated investment is the biggest in recent times and it has already begun transforming the Burnpur-Asansol area, which is linked with the history of steel making in India.