Resolve bottlenecks faced by large industries: Patnaik

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday directed officials to resolve the challenges faced by large industries in the state.

The chief minister took a review meeting to discuss about 11 large industries which are facing various hurdles including land acquisition, raw material supply, water and electricity linkages to their plants.

Projects like Visa Power Ltd., PCPIR project, Auto Park, Lanco Babandh Power Ltd., Aditya Aluminium, Sesa Sterlite and Jindal Steel and Power Ltd. are facing land acquisition problems while some projects are facing forest diversion hurdles.

However, there was no discussion about Posco, which has proposed to set up a $12 billion steel plant at Jagatsinghpur triggering speculation over a possible back out from the project.

"We discussed the challenges faced by 11 mega projects in the state. The government is taking steps to resolve their issues and ensure smooth industrial environment in the state," Industry Minister Debi Prasad Mishra told reporters here.

He said a monthly ministerial meeting would be held to resolve issues of industries.

The refinery project of Vedanta (Sesa Sterlite) in Kalanadi district is facing shortage of raw material, forcing it to run the one million tonne per annum plant at 30 percent of the capacity.

The government is trying to provide bauxite linkage to run the plant to full capacity, said a senior official.

The revenue department has decided to issue approval in the matter of sub leasing, as per the existing provision in the Central Act, to the Gopalpur project of Tata steel in Ganjam district.

The Gopapur SEZ is unable to obtain government of India approval and commence operation in absence of provision to sub-lease the land to units which set up industrial units in the SEZ.

The minister also said that the meeting discussed the draft Industrial Policy Resolution (IPR) 2015.

He said the policy is aimed at value addition and employment generation in the state.

The meeting was attended by Steel and Mines Minister Prafulla Mallick, Energy Minister Pranab Prakash Das and several officials.