CM Proposes Tatas To Set Up Defence Clusters In Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday gave a proposal to Tata Group to set up a defence manufacturing cluster at Naraj in Odisha’s Cuttack district.

During a meeting with Tata Sons chairman Natarajan Chandrasekharan at the Secretariat here, the Chief Minister suggested that Tata Advanced Systems should consider developing this cluster on 871 hectares of land at Naraj which is in possession of Tata Power.

Expressing happiness over the expansion of Tata’s steel plant at Kalinga Nagar in Jajpur district, the Chief Minister proposed Tatas to consider developing a steel downstream cluster at Kalinga Nagar with the provision of liquid metal.

He also put forth several other proposals including an e-vehicle project by Tata Motors, a manufacturing unit by Tata Chemicals at Paradip in Jagatsinghpur district and requested more investments in the manufacturing sector at Tata SEZ and DTA (Domestic Tariff Area) area at Gopalpur in Ganjam district to generate employment.

This apart, the Chief Minister proposed that Tata Industries could participate in the World Skill Centre project as an industry partner to deliver world class skill to the state’s youth. He requested to step up campus placements in different government engineering colleges, Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) and polytechnics.

He asked Chandrasekharan to expedite the setting up of a 500-bedded super speciality hospital at Sitalapalli in Ganjam district and urged that Tata AIG should expedite the payment of crop insurance claims to the farmers of the state.

In his reply, Chandrasekharan thanked the Chief Minister for his focus on rapid industrialization and employment generation. He said that Tata Sons would consider all the proposals of the Chief Minister and try its best to realize the proposed projects.

The Chief Minister suggested to Chandrasekharan that Tata Motor along with VOTAS and ThyssenKrupp Industries India Pvt Ltd (TKLL) should consider establishing workshops in some selected government Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs).

Speaking on the state’s Mission Shakti Programme, Naveen asked  Tatas to promote micro-entrepreneurship development programme for women under Mission Shakti.

Among others, Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi, Development Commissioner R Balakrishnan, Principal Secretary, Finance Tuhin Kanta Pandey, Principal Secretary Industries Sanjeev Chopra, Commissioner-cum-Secretary, Health and Family Welfare PK Meherda, Tata Steel MD TV Narendran and other Tata officials were present at the meeting.