Pradhan seeks assistance from Ratan Tata over IMFA plant issue

Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday sought assistance from Tata emeritus Ratan Tata in ending the two-week long impasse at the India Metal and Ferro-Alloys (IMFA) plant at Rayagada in Odisha.

Taking to Twitter, the Union Minister said the standoff had affected the livelihood of thousands of locals, and thereby urged the noted industrialist to offer advice to the Odisha state government on the matter.

"The plant was established by the visionary Odia industrialist Dr Banshidhar Panda in 1961 and more than 1500 locals are directly dependent for their livelihood on this plant," Pradhan tweeted.

"His considered advise to the state government to resolve the issues within the confines of law shall definitely carry a lot of weight and meaning," he added.

As per Pradhan, the impending standoff at Therubali had resulted in a lock-out in plant, risen out of state vendetta and misinterpreted short-term gains. This, he said, would result in negative signals being sent to industrialisation process and investor climate in Odisha, apart from fomenting left-wing extremism in Rayagada.

Citing a similar impasse earlier in West Bengal's Singur area over a land dispute between the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government and the Tata Group, Pradhan sought assistance from Ratan Tata, as he would "appreciate the situation having experienced a similar one".

"Shri Ratan Tata would appreciate the situation having experienced a similar one when Tata Motors was forced to quit Singur in 2008 while trying to acquire land for the flagship Nano manufacturing plant," he said on the microblogging site.

Meanwhile, the Union Minister also thanked the top industrialist for partnership with the Odisha government to establish a state-of-the-art cancer treatment and research hospital in Bhubaneswar, and also envisioning a model through which district level hospitals shall be equipped to provide better cancer care.

"Shri Ratan Tata is the doyen of industrialisation in India and his presence in the State shall boost the morale of the industrialists and entrepreneurs when Odisha is looking forward to massive investments in future," he added.

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