In bid to expedite various steel projects facing inordinate delay in the state, the steel and mines department will review the progress of these projects on 11th and 12th of this month.
All the 49 companies who have signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Orissa government including Arcelor-Mittal and Posco will be called for the review meeting.
This follows the decision taken by the department to review progress on a monthly basis to push these projects. It will be a precursor to the interaction to be held by the chief minister Naveen Patnaik with the top level executives of the MoU signed companies on 15th January.
“As part of the monthly review meeting to give a fillip to the implementation of different projects, the first review meeting on the steel projects is scheduled to be held on 11th and 12th of this month”, Ashok Dalwai, secretary, steel and mines department of Orissa government said.
Representatives from water resources, revenue, energy, forest and environment department along with representatives from the Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Idco), Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Orissa Ltd (Ipicol) and Orissa State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB) will take part in it.
The review assumes importance as the mega steel units are unable to make headway mainly due to delay in the land acquisition. Add to it, the industries have been urging the government to expedite allotment of mines and permission to access water sources among others. On the issue of reported displeasure of companies like Arcelor-Mittal on the progress of 12 million tonne per annum Orissa project, Dalwai said, he has talked to the company officials and they have stated that the company is not moving out of Orissa.
In a simultaneous move which could have a long term bearing on the disposal of the pending Renewal Mining Lease (RML) applications, the department has also decided to hold regular review on every third Saturday of the month.
About 10 to 20 RML applicants will be called to every meeting which will be chaired by the secretary, state steel and mines department. The representatives from the forest and environment department and OSPCB will also be requested to attend the review meetings, sources added.
