KENDRAPARA: The state government’s recent announcement to establish a steel plant in Kendrapara district with a production capacity of 30 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) has evoked mixed reactions from locals.
During Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s visit to Japan last week, Nippon Steel Corporation president Eiji Hashimoto told the delegation from Odisha about his plan to set up the world’s largest and most modern steel plant in Odisha.
A large number of residents of the coastal district welcomed the decision. Sarpanch of Ramnagar panchayat Bijay Shukla said, “We are quite happy after the announcement. We hope the steel plant will usher in development in the area,” he said.
Similarly, the former sarpanch of Kharinashi Narayan Haldar said at present, Kendrapara has no big industries. “A large number of youths will get jobs after the plant comes up,” he said. However, farmers, fishermen and prawn farm owners of several villages are unhappy with the decision.“We eke out a living by cultivating paddy and fishing. The proposed steel plant will deprive us of our fertile land and homes,” said Basant Jena of Badatubi village.
In 2021, AMNS India, a joint venture of Arcelor Mittal and Nippon Steel, had inked a pact with the state government for a 12 MTPA integrated steel plant with an investment of Rs 50,000 crore in Kendrapara. Sources said a large number of villagers are opposing the government’s decision to hand over land to ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel for the construction of the plant in the Mahakalapada block.
The villagers had opposed the soil testing work of the company on April 7 at the seaside Hariabanka village. Amid apprehensions of environmental degradation, it is feared that the construction of the steel plant in the coastal pockets of the district will aggravate sea erosion.