SAIL Adopts Heritage Monuments

The SAIL Chairman gets a breathtaking view of the historic Lodhi Gardens from his Delhi office. No wonder SAIL has actually gone ahead and adopted the heritage monument right at the heart of Lutyen''s Delhi. However, SAIL is not stopping there. It may soon head to Mumbai for similar projects and NDTV learns that the caves at Elephanta just off Mumbai are likely to be managed by the steel giant.

The culture ministry is negotiating with SAIL and it has to decide whether it will hand over the caves to a single PSU to manage or invite a consortium. For SAIL, this is part of a bigger CSR initiative. After monuments it is also adopting few villages and taking care of children''s education and mid day meals. But for all its CSR work, employee compensation is an area of concern. The labour union at Asia''s largest iron ore mine Chiria have gone on strike. SAIL is also moving out of Gua mines since the beginning of the month due to similar labour problems. But the labour issue could snowball into a bigger crisis for the steel giant and affect its productivity. These mines are critical raw material suppliers and long drawn confrontations will mean a supply crunch.