ROURKELA: Senior officials of the Odisha government, Union Ministry of Steel and SAIL met here on Thursday to discuss issues related to the expansion of Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) and the city airport.
The meeting, presided over by joint secretary of the Union Steel Ministry Abhijit Narendra, also discussed rehabilitation of displaced persons of RSP and generation of employment.
Ways for amicable and peaceful solutions to acquire land for expansion of RSP from the current 4.5 MTPA to 9.3 MTPA along with pending rehabilitation issues of the displaced persons were discussed. For its expansion, RSP requires around 1,200 acre of land which it claims was technically acquired 65 years ago, but is in occupation of about 300 families in eight hamlets.
Narendra also interacted with some displaced persons of RSP, their representatives and affected villagers and heard their grievances and demands. He assured them to collectively find solutions.
After the meeting, Revenue Divisional Commissioner (North) Sachin Ramchandra Jadhav informed mediapersons about the expansion plan of RSP with investment of about Rs 30,000 crore. It would create new employment opportunities and also help in growth of the Rourkela city.
Jadhav said those affected by the upcoming expansion project of RSP would be rehabilitated. The old pending issues of displaced persons would also be addressed.
Among others, Sundargarh collector Manoj S Mahajan, DIG (Western Range) Brijesh Rai, Rourkela ADM Ashutosh Kulkarni, SP Nitesh Wadhwani and RSP director-in-charge Atul Verma attended the meeting.
Notably on June 26, Union Steel Minister HD Kumaraswamy, Union Tribal Affairs Minister and Sundargarh MP Jual Oram and Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had held a high-level meeting at Delhi with officials of the Odisha government, Steel Ministry and SAIL to discuss expansion of RSP and the Rourkela airport.