185 industries yet to start operations in Chhattisgarh

Not even half of the Memoranda of Understandings (MoUs) signed by the Chhattisgarh government for drawing investing in the state could take shape in last eight years.

The state government had signed 345 MoUs for setting up steel, power and cement plants in the state that had been endowed with rich minerals. "Out of it, 160 industries has started the work on the project," state's industry minister Rajesh Munat said in the Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly Monday.The minister said 185 industries that had inked agreement with the state government for investing in the state had failed to make any progress in the proposal. The companies had not done any work on the proposal, Munat said.

Munat had earlier said that the government had been reviewing the progress of the MoUs. The agreement with the companies that had failed to make any progress in the proposals would be cancelled, the minister had said.

During the first global investors meet held in the state in November 2012, 174 MoUs were signed by 161 investors, Munat said, adding that the government was constantly monitoring and reviewing the status of the progress made by the companies for investing in the state.