JSW to set up steel plant in Odisha on land acquired for POSCO!

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Apr 28:

JSW Steel Limited is likely to set up its steel mill in Odisha on land acquired for South Korean steel major POSCO which has scrapped its proposed project in Jagatsinghpur district in the aftermath of amendments to MMDR Act.

The Chairman and MD of JSW Group of companies Sajjan Jindal today called on Odisha Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi here where setting up of steel plant was discussed.

After the meeting, Sajjan Jindal told reporters that JSW in talks with Odisha government to set up steel plant. Posco land a potential location but no decision taken yet.

Earlier, JSW had evinced interest to build mega steel project of 10 million tonne capacity in Jagatsinghpur district for which it had proposed to set up an integrated steel project with a captive power plant of 900 MW capacity with an investment of Rs 50,000 crore.

On March 25, state level single window clearance authority (SLSWCA) had cleared nine projects including two from JSW and recommended it to the high-level clearance authority (HLCA) headed by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. The projects are JSW Steel Limited and JSW Infrastructure Ltd.

It may be mentioned here that POSCO-India had offered to return around 1700 acres of land to state government after the latter claimed its due from the steel manufacturer. The land acquired for industrial purpose now is with IDCO.

With POSCO backing out from the project, the land losers have reclaimed their rights on the land and encroached on it at several places.