Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma has been dissatisfied with the Steel Authority of India’s (SAIL) organization of the modernization programme.

SAIL has been working on its West Bengals, 3 mt Greenfield Plant at Burnpur and the work has already been delayed by 6 months along with the increase in cost from Rs. 14,443 crore to Rs. 16,408 crore.

Verma had stated that he was highly dissatisfied with the SAIL's working process. SAIL has been lagging behind in the modernization programme which has caused production loss and huge cost acceleration. The SAIL authorities were asked to speed up with the work in every meeting, said Verma.

With the SAIL’s expansion the company’s production is expected to grow to 24 million tonne by 2013 from the present production of 14 million tonne per year.

SAIL Chairman CS Verma stated, “We are trying hard to meet the expectations of the ministry. The cost overrun would be met by the contingency reserves which are a part of R72, 000 crore".

He said that the delay in the work has been due to the elimination of underground boulders and hillocks, which have taken a lot of time. The company will be completing the work by December 2011, he said.