New Delhi, May 20: Minister of State for Commerce and Industries Nirmala Sitharaman Saturday said her ministry has ‘favourably’ considered the request of Orissa to include the state in the Industrial Corridor.
Asked about the ministry’s willingness to include Orissa in the Industrial Corridor (IC) after the issue was raised several times through the state government and also by the state MPs in the Parliament, Sitharaman accepted receiving several such requests from the state.
“Yes, we did receive some VIP references as well as other requests for extending the Industrial Corridor to Orissa by extending the existing Industrial Corridor from Vishakhapatnam towards north and down from Kolkata so that the Chennai-Vishakhapatnam corridor gets extended to Kolkata via Orissa,” Sitharaman told Orissa POST.
She also said, “We have taken a very ‘favourable’ stand on it but the details have not been put forth in public yet.”
However the minister refrained from making any further revelations in this regard and commenting on the time frame.
Experts say if the demand is conceded, it could pave way for utilising the plethora of locally available raw materials, a pre-requisite for many sector of industries, besides helping the state in setting up of new industries and building infrastructure which can potentially change the industrial and commercial face of the state.
Earlier, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Lok Sabha MPs like Balabhadra Majhi and others had requested the Commerce and Industry Ministry to include Orissa in the IC citing abundance of natural resources the state is endowed with and the potential of these corridors which could help the state generate more avenue and employment.
The ministry has sanctioned five major ICs that include Delhi-Mumbai, Amritsar-Mumbai, Bangalore-Mumbai, Chennai-Bangalore and Vizag-Chennai ICs.
The ICs often help the states in their overall economic and social development as the corridors ensure interdependence of several sectors of the economy and pave way for world class infrastructure like high-speed transportation (through rail, air and ports), setting up of special economic zones, knowledge hubs, townships among others. (PNN)
