BHUBANESWAR: President of Odisha Pradesh Committee (OPCC) Niranjan Patnaik has rejected the claims of State Government on Industrialisation and Investment and alleged that industrialists and businessmen were looking for options elsewhere in the country.Alleging that Government’s claims regarding employment generation are also far from truth, Niranjan said in 2010, the State Employment Exchanges had 9.4 lakh job-seekers, but there were only 4480 placements.
He quoted a Labour Bureau Report to claim that there were 2.6 lakh graduates unemployed in the State. He demanded that Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik take immediate steps to create employment opportunities for the unemployed youth.
Niranjan, who was Industries Minister earlier, also contested the claims the State Government that it has excelled on all fronts. “But large and MSME sector are not satisfied with the climate here and many industries and business houses are now in search of suitable options elsewhere in the country,” he said.
The veteran Congress leader alleged that though the State Government boasted of all facilities to set up industries, only half of the promoters, who signed memorandum of understanding with the Government, have grounded their projects. These industries were reluctant to set up units as they are uncertain about the supply of raw materials and realisation of full capacity mentioned in the MoU.