Orissa gives nod for land acquisition for ArcelorMittal plant

The Orissa government has accorded administrative approval for acquisition of 4905.19 acres of private land for the 12 million tonne mega steel project proposed by ArcleorMittal at Patana tehsil in Keonjhar district.

The state water resources department has also allotted 140 cusecs of water for this steel plant. This was stated by Raghunath Mohanty, the minister for industries and steel & mines, in response to a query in the state assembly.

ArclelorMittal, the world's largest steel maker, had entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the state government on December 21, 2006 for a 12 million tonne steel plant.

The mega project involved an investment of around Rs 40,000 crore. As per the MoU, the project needed around 8000 acres of land.

The state government owned Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Orissa Ltd (Ipicol) had approved 7002.72 acres of land for the steel plant and an additional 750.58 acres for the plant township.

Out of 7002 acres earmarked for the steel plant, government land is 2583.53 acres with the balance 4419.18 acres being private land.

The villages where land is to be acquired for the steel plant are Chilida, Angikala, Chemana, Nuagaonbalabhadrapur, Raikala, Dharuapada,Kimirdapasi, Bhringaraj, Birudipusi, Padmakesharpur, Kodakhemana, Bradaungua, Jamunapasi and Padmapur.

The township project will be spread over 750 cares in Chilida and Baliapsi villages.

It may be noted ArclelorMittal chairman, LN Mittal in a recent media interview had expressed dissatisfaction over slow progress of land acquisition and allotment of mining lease for his projects in India and favoured setting up of smaller steel plants at different locations in the country instead of going for mega ventures.