Arcelor Mittal Nippon Steel Not Leaving Odisha; Minister Slams BJD For ‘Misleading’ People

Bhubaneswar: Amid allegations by BJD allegations that steel giant Arcelor Mittal Nippon Steel is shifting its proposed Odisha project to Andhra Pradesh, the company on Monday made it clear that it has no intention to drop the 24 MTPA steel plant planned in Kendrapada.

Stating that the company has been exploring investment opportunities as various locations to further expand its business, a senior official of Arcelor Mittal Nippon Steel India clarified that the proposed project in Odisha is very much in the pipeline.

The process is on for establishment of the project in Kendrapada and the required formalities are at different levels of government approvals, he said.

Besides taking steps to set up the proposed project in Kendrapada, the company is also set to establish another mega steel plant in Paradip, he added.

The clarification comes in the wake of allegations by the BJD that AM/NS is moving out of Odisha and it is setting up the plant in Andhra Pradesh.

Senior BJD leader Pratap Jena had earlier told reporters that former Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had visited Japan and held talks with the chairman of Nippon and made efforts to set up the biggest steel plant in Kendrapada. However, the project is now moving to Andhra Pradesh which is unfortunate, he claimed

The former Minister further claimed that the project is being shifted from Odisha due to an inefficient government in the state.

Strongly refuting the claims made by the BJD leader, Industries Minister Sampad Swain said Jena and other leaders of the regional party are misleading the people of Odisha. Arcelor Mittal is one of the major companies and is setting up steel plants in different parts of India and other countries.

The Minister further reminded the BJD leader that when the MoU was signed with Odisha, the company set up a plant in Gujarat. The company is a major investor and has several steel plants across the country.

New investments made by the company in some other state does not mean it is going to abandon its project in Odisha, Swain added.

The Minister further stated that several companies which had scrapped their projects in Odisha during the previous BJD regime are now  coming back after BJP formed government in the state.