Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi today directed the Department of Industries Officials to take all measures for establishment of a mega integrated steel plant in mineral rich Keonjhar district.
Despite being rich in iron ore, Keonjhar district is yet to have a mega steel plant. So, the Chief Minister has expressed concern over this matter.
While holding a review meeting on the progress made in the industrial sector of the state at the Lok Seva Bhawan today, Shri Majhi said that the State Government aims to create 3.5 lakh employment opportunities in the State in the next five years.
Sectors like textile, food processing have more employment potential. So, he advised Industries Minister Sampad Chandra Swain and Principal Secretary Hement Sharma to pay attention to how more industries can be established in all these areas. He also advised Odia entrepreneurs to set up industries in all these areas.
During the review, the Chief Minister said that no mega steel plant has been set up in mineral rich districts like Keonjhar. The district has mineral resources, land, water, electricity, communication facilities and all related infrastructure facilities. Majhi directed efforts to set up a mega steel plant in Keonjhar, which is the home district of the CM.
It was decided in the meeting that a Task Force under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary Manoj Ahuja would be constituted to fast track the process of setting up a mega steel plant in Keonjhar with various interested industries.
In the meeting, Principal Secretary, Industries, Hemant Sharma, made a presentation about the progress made in setting up industries in various sectors.
He said that since 2016, the State has received 989 proposals for setting up industries, of which 674 projects have been approved by the State Single Window Clearance Authority,
Out of the approved project, land has been handed over to 352 projects. Apart from this, work has been started for setting up 183 industrial projects and 74 industries have been operationalized, Sharma said.
Similarly, the State has got 12 foreign investment proposals. The State Government has been making efforts to implement 41 important investment proposals, he informed.
The Chief Minister said that there is a huge opportunity for setting up industries in the state. He opined that it is important to speed up all the processes in this regard and provide appropriate opportunities to the industrial organizations at the government level and extend cooperation to all the line departments of the government in order to fulfill all their needs.
Among others, Chief Secretary Manoj Ahuja, Additional Chief Secretary to Chief Minister Nikunja Bihari Dhal, Principal Secretary Finance Saswat Mishra, Managing Director of IPICOL Bhupinder Singh Punia and senior officials of Industries Department were present in the meeting.