Bhubaneswar: Odisha’s second largest steel plant will be established in Keonjhar district. Korean steel major POSCO and JSW Steel, one of India’s leading steelmakers, have collaborated to set up the plant.

The mega steel plant will come up in Patna area of Keonjhar, the home district of Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi.

Members of several social outfits and citizens’ forums from Keonjhar today met the Chief Minister at the State Guest House in the capital city here and thanked him for the initiative taken by the state government for setting up of the steel plant in the mineral-rich district.

Two MLAs from Keonjhar district—Akhil Naik (Patna) and Fakir Naik (Telkoi)--also thanked the Chief Minister for his personal efforts for establishment of the mega steel plant.

“The people of Keonjhar have been pressing for the establishment of a steel plant in the district for last many years. The previous governments in Odisha did not take any step in this regard. But, present government in Odisha and the Centre have taken proactive steps for setting up of a steel plant in Keonjhar,” said the Chief Minister.

With the establishment of the steel plant, Patna area of Keonjhar will be developed as a mega city like Rourkela, he added.

It is worth mentioning here that the JSW Steel and the POSCO Group have recently signed a non-binding Heads of Agreement (HoA) to jointly explore the establishment of a 6 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) integrated steel plant in India.