Keonjhar/Telkoi, India, August 27, 2012: In a major initiative for empowerment of the local community and make the youth employable, Essar Steel today started an Industrial Training Centre reflecting the basic tenet of corporate philosophy of growing business with local area development.
The Essar Industrial Training Centre (ITC) at Telkoi in the district of Keonjhar was inaugurated by the local MLA Mr. Premananda Nayak.
Keonjhar occupies a central place in Essar Steel’s operation plans in Odisha as the company is in advanced stages of completing a 12 MTPA Beneficiation plant at Dabuna, 35 kms from the district HQ from where beneficiated iron fines will be transported through a 252 km long pipeline to Paradeep for Pelletisation. The company has already commissioned the first phase of 6 MTPA of the pellet plant, and another 6 MTPA capacity will be commissioned next year. The entire project for value creation from iron fines from the local mines, is being created at an investment of Rs 5,000 crore.
Inaugurating the Essar ITC, where the first course for electrical trade will start from the current academic session, Mr Nayak said: ”Essar’s effort is praiseworthy. It will create employment opportunities for locals. We will render all possible help to allot land for them to have their own campus. And looking at the need for the helping hand for technocrats, I think institutes like this will be of immense help to locals.”
Starting a course with two batches for a total of 42 students, the Centre will soon start technical training in other trades for employment oriented courses for the local youth, which will help them get increased opportunity for skilled category of work, and in effect raise their living standards and develop the local economy.
Essar Steel had signed an MoU with the State Government in July 2011, to set up an ITC. Within a year of signing this MOU, ITC is set to become operational. In the current academic year, Electrician trade course will be started and subsequently all other trades shall be started.
Mr Ramesh Mohanty, Vice President, Essar Steel India said, ” We remain committed to the State of Odisha. Not only will we invest further in the state, but will also work towards the betterment of the community in and around our plant site. We have identified three areas, that include education, health care and developing self help groups.”
Essar’s corporate philosophy of social responsibility includes empowerment of local youth, development of the local area and local economy, as part of underlying principle of sharing the fruits of growth with the pepole in the region where it is doing business.
Elaborating, Head of CSR-Essar Foundation, Mr Deepak Arora said, that ”we are taking such skill-building as well as skill-enhancing initiatives to make the locals employable and have set up several such institutes in our other project areas. In fact some of them also found jobs in our company.” ”We are always committed towards the peripheral development of the adjacent areas of our project, and the setting up of this ITC will certainly add a feather to it’s cap of CSR activities,” he added.
To start with, the ITC will commence the training in a temporary building, but will soon take it to a full-fledged dedicated premises once the state government allocates the land for the purpose. Arrangements are also being made for hostel facilities for the students of the courses. All necessary arrangements have been made to manage the ITC from this current academic year. Students have got admitted and faculty have also joined the ITC.
The eagerly awaited ITC was inaugurated in the presence of local representatives of the Telkoi Block and local media persons, whose support, the company officials said, is must for the success of the initiative for the local area development.
About Essar Steel
Essar Steel, a 14 MTPA global producer of steel, is a fully integrated flat carbon steel manufacturer—with presence in Canada, USA, India and Indonesia. It is the most versatile flat steel producer with integrated facilities. It maks pipes and extra wide plates, as well as hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized and colour coated steel. It has an integrated distribution business with Service Centres and EssarHypermarts. It operates seven Service Centres in India and overseas, with an aggregate capacity of over 4 million tonnes. Essar has the largest retail distribution network in the country. Its products find wide acceptance in highly discerning consumer sectors, such as automotive, white goods, construction, engineering and shipbuilding
Media contact:
Essar:
B.Ganesh Pai, VP - Corporate Communications,
Phone: +91 98197 30225, Email: ganesh.pai@essar.com
Bibhudatta Mahapatra, DGM - Corporate Communications,
Phone: +91 73810 07063, Email: bibhudatta.mahapatra@essar.com
