Steel Authority of India Limited
The Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) was established on January 24, 1973 [1]. The company operates under the management of the Ministry of Steel and Mines. SAIL is the largest steel-making company in India. The company has five major steel plants across the country which includes Rourkela Steel Plant, Bokaro Steel Plant, IISCO Steel Plant, Durgapur Steel Plant, and the Bhilai Steel Plant.
According to Comptroller Auditor General (CAG), the total land held by the five steel plants of SAIL is 101598 acres. As on March 2017, the company possessed title deeds of only 48,918 acres of land (48 percent) out of the 101598 acres of land held by the five steel plants of SAIL[2] .
A huge portion of land under the control of these five steel plants across the country is kept unused and is under encroachment.
The Bhilai Steel Plant has a total land area of 28463 acres out of which 1344 acres of land is surplus, and 510 acres of land is under encroachment.
The Rourkela Steel Plant holds a total land area of 28,108 acres of land out of which 3,910 acres of land is surplus, and 391 acres of land is under encroachment.
The Bokaro Steel Plant holds a total land area of 28,744 acres out of which 9061 acres of land is surplus, and another 1932 acres of land is encroached.
The Durgapur Steel Plant has a total land area of 12,935 acres out of which 1829 acres of land is surplus, and 1163 acres of land is encroached.
The IISCO Steel Plant has a total land area of 3348 acres out of which 348 acres of land is surplus, and 20 acres of land is encroached.
The CAG points out that out of the total 10158 acres of land held by these five steel plants, around 29,008 (equals to 21,957 football fields) acres of land is either leased, surplus, and encroached The CAG also revealed that the company did not make any master plan for the utilization of these surplus land parcels.
The total value of such unused land parcels held by the company is around ₹ 58,149 crore. If these unused and encroached land parcels are monetized then each Indian household may set to gain ₹ 23,277.
This shows that the government cannot even protect their own land from encroachments. On the other hand, the company even kept a large chunk of land of valuable land unused in major cities. There is a possibility that SAIL holds more such unused or encroached parcels of land across the country.Refer to the map and accompanying table for details.
| # | Plant | Area (acre) | Value (₹ crore) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | IISCO Steel Plant Burnpur | 432 | 874 |
| 2 | Bokaro Steel Plant | 14513 | 28,820 |
| 3 | Durgapur Steel Plant | 5252 | 10,627 |
| 4 | Rourkela Steel Plant | 4952 | 10,020 |
| 5 | Bhilai Steel Plant | 3859 | 7,808 |
| Total | 29,008 acre | ₹ 58,149 crore | |
