Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, August 23: The state government has put together a ‘Plan B’ to salvage the high profile Posco project which has almost reached a no return stage.
Even as a tripartite meeting comprising the state government, Centre and the company officials has been lined up for August 25 at New Delhi, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has tied up another meeting with Union finance minister Arun Jaitely in the first week of September.
The Naveen-Jaitley meet, which may possibly be a last-ditch effort on the part of the state government to save the prestigious steel project, is likely to have representatives of the South Korean major Posco.
The second high-level meeting hardly a week after the proposed tripartite meeting has lent significance to the state government’s die-hard approach to salvage the project.
Revealing the measures being initiated by the state government to save the project, Biju Janata Dal parliamentary party leader in Lok Sabha Bhartruhari Mahtab said, “We will pay attention to the problems coming in the way of grounding the biggest FDI project in the country. Jaitley had promised to look into the matter when we met him in Delhi recently.”
In deference to the direction of the Chief Minister, the chief secretary GC Pati and principal secretary to the Prime Minister will have a preliminary meeting to discuss the problems of the project this Tuesday.
Indicating that the ball is in the Centre’s court, a member of parliament said, “The chief focus is the new MMDR Act. The company says if it goes through the auction route to get mines, it will not be feasible for the project. The Centre has to modify the rules in the Act so that the biggest FDI can come to the country.”
Sources further said now, the Centre has to decide it. There is no option left before the state government on
this issue.
Meanwhile, steel and mines minister Prafulla Mallik has rejected the charges made by the Union mines minister Narendra Singh Tomar indicating that the state had not informed the Centre at an appropriate time seeking mines for the company.
“The Union minister’s charge that the state government did not inform the Centre at the appropriate time is incorrect. We had provided all information at the right time to the Centre,”
asserted Mallik.
