Bhubaneswar: After the foundation stone of ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India (AM/NS India) was laid for a mega steel plant in Andhra Pradesh, opposition Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Wednesday claimed that Odisha’s mineral resources would be sent for the project.
The regional party’s reaction came two days after Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu laid the foundation stone for the project on Monday.
Voicing concern over the fate of the proposed project of AM/NS India in Kendrapada district of Odisha, BJD MP Sasmit Patra said it is a very sad and shameful development. He claimed that the project, which was originally planned for Odisha, is now being shifted to Andhra Pradesh.
When Naveen Patnaik was the Chief Minister, he travelled to Japan and signed an MoU with Nippon Steel. Consequently, Nippon Steel was set to build its own steel plant in Odisha, Patra told media.
Claiming that Odisha’s minerals will be transported to Andhra Pradesh via a slurry pipeline., the BJD leader said if every steel plant and industry moves out of Odisha, and its minerals and coal are exported through such pipelines, nothing will be left
for the state.
He said it is wrong for steel plants to be established in other states while using Odisha’s resources instead of developing them here. “I believe if Lakshmi Mittal wants to produce steel, he should do so in Odisha rather than taking our minerals to Andhra Pradesh,” said Patra.
No comment from AM/NS India was immediately available on the statement made by the BJD MP.
Notably, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Monday laid the foundation for Rs 1.36 lakh-crore AM/NS India steel plant here in Nakkapalli mandal of Anakapalli district.
With a capacity of 17.8 million tonne per annum, the plant will be set up in 5,465 acres in two phases and is expected to create one lakh direct and indirect jobs, according to the government.
“We did not lay the foundation for a steel plant, we laid the foundation for a steel city,” Naidu said, adding that the biggest steel plant in India is coming to the southern state.
More than 5,400 acres of land have been allocated at Rajayyapeta in Ankapalli district and manufacturing is expected to begin by December 2028, according to an official statement by the government of Andhra Pradesh. Once the second phase of the project commences, the plant will produce nearly 18 million metric tonnes (MMT) per annum, employing a lakh people directly and indirectly.
N Chandrababu Naidu told a gathering of more than 5,000 people that the project was a reality because of his government and the National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA) forthrightness in creating jobs for people.