Pravash Pradhan
Post News Network
New Delhi, August 12: In a bid to prevent mega steel project Posco from exiting the state, about a dozen BJD MPs Wednesday met Union finance minister Arun Jaitley urging him to initiate steps to persuade the South Korean steel giant to set up its steel project in the state.
The BJD MPs, however, were reportedly dissatisfied with the response of the finance minister. An MP who was part of the delegation said on condition of anonymity that the finance minister did not properly acknowledge their visit and merely asked them to submit in a typed sheet of paper what they wanted to say.
BJD MPs Bhartruhari Mahatab, Tathagata Satpathy, AU Singh Deo, Baishnab Charan Parida, Anubhav Mahanty, Kalikesh Singh Deo, Bhupinder Singh and Dilip Tirkey were the members of the delegation, sources said.
Meanwhile, on the heels of media reports stating that Posco has signed an agreement with Shree Uttam Steel and Power to do a feasibility study for setting up a three million tonne per annum (MTPA) integrated steel plant in Maharashtra, industries minister Debi Prasad Mishra said the state government had no clue about the status of the project as Posco was keeping the government in the dark regarding its intentions.
“The state government has no information about the withdrawal of the steel project by Posco from the state,” Mishra said Wednesday, reacting to the reports.
The state government had requested the Centre to grant a prospecting license to Posco for Khandadhar mines. However, the introduction of the new Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act- 2015 that mandated Posco to participate in the bidding process in order to get a mine came as a blow to the South Korean steel major.
Chief Secretary GC Pati, acting on the directive of CM Naveen Patnaik, had written to the Centre August 6
requesting it to hold a meeting at the Prime Ministerial or Cabinet Secretary level over
the issue.
