BHUBANESWAR: A day after two prominent industry bodies urged the State government to ensure a steady supply of raw material by invoking the right of pre-emption, the MSMEs on Tuesday appealed to stop the supply of bauxite from Odisha without any value addition.
The Odisha Assembly of Small and Medium Enterprises (OASME) has requested Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to stop the conspiracy of taking bauxite outside Odisha without setting up facilities here and making the State a mere supplier of bauxite.
With over 60 per cent of the bauxite deposits in the country, Odisha is poised to be the aluminium Capital of India and aluminium hub of South Asia as the State is the largest producer of aluminium contributing to 55 per cent of the country’s total smelting capacity.
The sector is expected to add eight million tonnes of additional production capacity with an investment of Rs 4 lakh crore to meet the aluminium demand of 12 million tonnes by 2030.
Though bauxite and coal are likely to get 70 per cent of the investment and generate employment opportunities for around one million people, the apex MSME association pointed out such high investment with thousands of small-scale industries and huge employment is possible only if bauxite resources are available in the State.
The MSMEs demanded the government to fix ‘creation of value addition facility’ in the State as a prerequisite condition for the lessees participating in the auctions for bauxite mining.
As per the Vision 2030 of the State government, the goal was to add value to at least 50 per cent of the primary metal produced in Odisha and develop industry-ready infrastructure to attract downstream and ancillary industries in steel and aluminium. But there is no tangible development yet, Dash added.