PSU's under Steel Ministry to spend Rs 230 cr on social sector

New Delhi, Aug 8 (UNI) Public Sector Undertakings under the Ministry of Steel will spend Rs 230 crore on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) during 2007-08.

According to official sources, out of this the major contributions are from Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) which will spend Rs 100 crore, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL) to spend Rs 27 crore and National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) to contribute Rs 89 crore.

Secretary, Ministry of Steel, R S Pandey who reviewed the progress of the initiatives for implementation of the CSR activities at a meeting here urged the PSUs to ensure implementation of the planned programmes in a time bound manner.

The Secretary said, administrative mechanism for CSR programmes should be strengthened and suitable officials be given administrative and financial powers to streamline implementation.

PSUs whose top executives attended the review meeting included SAIL, RINL, NMDC, MECON, MOIL, MTC, KIOCL, HSCL, BRL and FSNL.

Under the schemes, about 126 villages to be known as 'Model Steel Villages' will be provided with necessary amenities and constructive programmes to bring about all round improvement of the villages including promotion of steel use. Of these, SAIL will be responsible for 79 villages, NMDC for 40, MOIL for two and RINL for five villages.

Beginning with the peripheral areas around their respective plants, the PSUs will gradually target the CSR activities to cover the areas populated by the SCs, STs and weaker sections of the society, so as to cover all the districts in the country within the next 2-3 years.

It was also resolved that the PSUs will also be organising around 150 health camps in about 100 districts in the country during the current fiscal. Such camps have already been organised successfully by Bokaro Steel Plant in Jharkhand and Bihar. In addition, the PSUs will also be providing assistance to national, state and reputed local organisations involved in the field of arts, culture, tourism, sports and other allied areas. For these the steel PSUs will be shortly drawing up a detailed action plan.

UNI