Odisha chief secretary writes to Centre for Posco review

Says the project is important in the context of 'Make in India' campaign and deserves to be accorded utmost priority

Odisha chief secretary G C Pati has written to the Cabinet secretary Pradeep Kumar Sinha, pressing for a review of the Posco project by the central government at the level of cabinet secretariat or the prime minister’s office (PMO) to sort out the issues relating to the project expeditiously.

“You would agree that the commitments made to Posco have international implications. This is an important project in the context of ‘Make in India’ campaign and deserves to be accorded utmost priority. The Odisha government is keen to provide all support to ensure that the project is implemented without any further delay”, Pati said in the letter.

The chief secretary said, the state government had not received any formal communication from Posco on its decision to temporarily freeze the project. He, however, pointed out that the proposed investment is linked with the availability of raw material for the steel plant.

Pati sought to turn the blame on the Centre over the fiasco on iron ore lease allocation to Posco.

“It may be recalled that the state government had recommended the application of the company for grant of prospecting licence (PL) for prospecting of iron ore in Khandadhar on January 9, 2009, Though the state government followed up the proposal with the Government of India and furnished all clarifications as sought, the approval of the Centre for the grant of PL was not accorded”, he said.