Odisha to blame for Posco delay, says Pradhan

IANS/Santosh Jagdev
Bhubaneswar, May 26:

Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and the ruling Biju Janata Dal were engaged in a war of words on Tuesday, as he blamed the Odisha government for the delay in setting up the Posco project and recommending mines in favour of the South Korean steel major.

OST Photo
OST Photo

“The state government recommended mines in favour of Posco to the Centre just three days before the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) ordinance was issued, which mandates auction of mines across the country. Why did the state government not recommend the mines 2 years earlier?” asked Pradhan while addressing the media on the Narendra Modi government at the Centre completing a year in office.

Joining issues with Pradhan, BJD spokesperson Pratap Keshari Deb said the Naveen Patnaik government had written many letters to the Centre on allocating mines to Posco much before issuance of the ordinance.

“Odisha has been writing to the Centre for mines to be given to Posco long before the new Act. The then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had invited the Chief Minister for talks during the South Korean President’s visit to the country. So, it is not correct to say we wrote to the Centre at the last moment,” Deb said.

The minister’s statement came a day after Odisha Steel and Mines Minister Prafulla Mallick blamed the Centre for not allocating mines for the $12 billion Posco project in Jagatsinghpur district.

On May 24, Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman put the Posco ball in the state government’s court, asking it to clear the air over the setting up of the project in Odisha.

Pradhan also alleged that the government did not renew the memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Posco India due to internal bickerings in the Biju Janata Dal (BJD).

Asserting that the Bharatiya Janata Party was in favour of the Posco project, the petroleum minister said the union government was ready to provide all assistances, as per the rules, to the state government to help materialise the project.

As for the uncertainty over the establishment of Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in Odisha, the union minister said that the state government should not indulge in politics over finalising its proposed campus site.

On the location of the proposed IIM in the state, the BJD spokesperson said the state government had recommended to the ministry of human resource development to set up the IIM in Sambalpur.

The BJP leader listed his Government’s first year success in detail at the Press conference. He said the Centre has planned to set up a defense manufacturing unit with the help of the Tata Company at the company’s acquired land at Gopalpur in Ganjam district.

He described as a ‘baseless rumour’ speculation about shifting of the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) unit at Sunabeda.

He also stated that his ministry had decided to establish a Skill Development Centre at Bhubaneswar which would be the Centre of Excellence in the eastern region. Other Ministries of the Centre would set up around 30 such centres in the State to improve the skill of youths, he added.

 

Also Read

Comments are closed.