ROURKELA: A delegation of Rourkela Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) recently met various Union Ministers seeking redressal of issues plaguing Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and creation of fresh investment opportunities in and around the Steel City.
RCCI President Pravin Garg, who led the delegation on Wednesday said Minister of Steel, Petroleum & Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan, was apprised of various hurdles faced by business units in the city. He said Pradhan assured that commercial flights from Rourkela airport would start from March next year and efforts are underway to upgrade the RSP-run airport to C3 category.
On his commitment to make Rourkela a steel manufacturing hub and double the local economy by 2021, the Minister said the Government is working to ensure price advantage for local MSMEs on purchase of RSP steel.
Pradhan further assured RSP will play a committed and responsible role in the development of downstream industries in and around Rourkela, Garg said.
He said Union Minister for Forest & Environment Prakash Javdekar was urged to ensure Induction/Arc/Cupola Furnaces below 90,000 MTA are exempted from obtaining environment clearance as the present limit of 30,000 MTA has been hindering setting up of new units and expansion of existing ones.
The delegation also requested the Minister to exempt green category industries from obtaining No Objection Certificate from pollution regulatory authorities and like cement, lime kiln, calcium carbide, aluminium and calcine industries, refractory and similar industries be allowed to use petroleum coke.
Garg said Union Minister for Food Processing Industries Harsimrat Kaur Badal was impressed upon to send a high-level technical team and help explore avenues to set up food processing units in Sundargarh district.
He said on the sidelines of the Annual General Meeting of FICCI. the delegation also met Union Road Transport and MSME Minister Nitin Gadkari, Railways and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and Law and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad requesting them to expedite works of their concerned ministries in Rourkela and rest of Sundargarh district.
The business leaders at the FICCI were also impressed upon to include Rourkela in their investment map. The delegation also held discussions with SAIL Chairman AK Chaudhary and RSP CEO Dipak Chattraj over boosting the economy of the city.