Steel firms alloted 21,000 acres

Orissa through its nodal agency for land acquisition, Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation of Orissa Ltd (Idco), has allotted 20684.06 acres of land to steel companies that have signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the state.

The maximum allotment has been made in favour of Jindal Steel & Power Ltd (JSPL) which has got 3738.59 acres for its six million tonne per annum integrated steel plant at Kerajang in Angul district.

This includes 958.36 acres of government land and 2780.23 acres of private land.

JSPL had sought 5492.69 acres while Industrial Promotion & Investment Corporation of Orissa Ltd (Ipicol) had appraised the company's needs at 4327.98 acres.

Next to JSPL is Tata Steel which has been given 3040.39 acres of land at Duburi in Jajpur district which includes 540.42 acres of government land and 2499.97 acres of private land.

The figures are as per the information provided by the state industries minister Raghunath Mohanty.

Other MoU signed companies like Bhushan Steel Ltd-Meramandali (1530.52 acres), JSL Ltd-Kalinga Nagar (1375.53 acres), Posco India-Paradeep (568.91 acres), Rungta Mines (600.70 acres) at Jharbandh in Sundergarh district and Visa Steel-Dubri (525 acres) have also been allotted land by Idco.

Even though the big ticket investment projects of Posco and ArcelorMittal are yet to take off in Orissa, the steel sector in the state has already recorded an investment of Rs 51940.67 crore till the end of December 2010.

The 50 steel companies that have inked MoUs (Memorandum of Understanding) with the state government have generated direct employment for 21508 people besides creating indirect employment opportunities for 52448 others.

Out of 21508 people engaged in the direct route, 14217 are from within the state and the remaining 7291 outside Orissa.

In the indirect employment category, 38122 people from the state have got jobs and 14326 persons have been sourced from outside the state.