BHUBANESWAR: The Posco chapter in Odisha finally came to end on Saturday with the State Government formally announcing that it has cancelled the land allotted to South Korean steel major for setting up a mega steel plant near Paradip.
Announcing the decision, Industries Minister Debi Prasad Mishra said the Idco has informed Posco-India in a letter that the land allotted to it has been cancelled as it was not utilised even three years after the allotment.
Posco had also defaulted on land dues worth Rs 54 crore for which Idco held back transfer of balance land to the company. The South Korean company had earlier informed Idco in a letter about its failure to start work on the proposed project near Paradip and requested the Odisha Government to take back the acquired land.
The development came a day after JSW Steel Limited chief Sajjan Jindal met Odisha Chief Secretary AP Padhi here and said that Posco's site could be a location for his company to seting up a 10 mtpa greenfield steel mill.
The State Government had handed over 1880 acres of land including 578 acres of non-forest land and 1,301 acres of forest land in Kujang and Erasama tehsils of Jagatsinghpur district for the purpose of setting up Posco project at an investment of Rs 52,000 crore.
The Minister said the Industries Department had acquired 2,700 acres of land for the Posco project.
Out of which, 1,880 acres were handed over to Posco while the remaining land was in the possession of the State Government.
Posco India had signed an MoU with the Odisha Government on June 22, 2005 to set up a 12 mtpa steel plant at an investment of Rs 52,000 crore near Paradip. Though the MoU expired in 2010, it was not renewed again.