BHUBANESWAR: Odisha government on Tuesday decided to redevelop unutilised industrial land to promote employment intensive industries. While special focus will be on unutilised industrial land of Orient Paper Mills and Orissa Textile Mills, Gopalpur industrial parks, the Barpali and Hinjili MSME parks will be expedited.
The decision was taken after the chief minister’s office (CMO) reviewed the status of several crucial industrial and infrastructure projects at a high-level meeting here. Keeping in view the larger public interest, it has been decided to explore alternative options for utilising the vacant land for setting up employment oriented projects.
One of the oldest factories of the state, Orient Paper Mills was established on an area of around 1,000 acre at Brajrajnagar by Birla Group in 1939. However, the mill has been shut since 1999 rendering over 3,000 workers jobless.
The CMO has directed IDCO and Jharsuguda administration to make the land parcel available for upcoming industrial units within one month. The Industries department has been asked to invite potential industries to set up their units in the area.
The government has decided to promote textile and locomotive industries on around 521 acre of vacant land of Orissa Textile Mills at Choudwar. The vacant land has been taken over by the state government after clearing all the employment dues.
An Industry department official said decision has been taken to transfer suitable portions of vacant land to IDCO for development of a model industrial park in a phased manner so as to provide maximum employment opportunities to local youths. “IPICOL will offer industrial plots to investors and take urgent steps for allocation. The construction of the approach road and boundary wall will start immediately besides the water and power supply work,” he said.
IDCO has also been asked to start the work on the proposed utility corridor at Gopalpur industrial park by October 15. So far, three large-scale industries have taken possession of land and they will commence their projects shortly.
The MSME parks being developed at Barpali and Hinjili will be first offered to local MSME units for labour-intensive projects.5T secretary VK Pandian suggested that all industrial projects should be mapped with the requirement of skilled workforce for specific projects and skill development institutions like ITI and polytechnics should be tagged for making local workers readily available.