ROURKELA: Despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s emphasis on self-reliance and skill development to strengthen manufacturing, the Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) appears to be in no rush to expedite the establishment of the MSME Technology Centre or Technology Hub in Rourkela.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) sanctioned 20 Technology Centres (TCs), including one for Rourkela, and 100 Extension Centres (ECs) across the country in November 2018. However, over five years later, little progress has been made, despite the finalisation of land in Kantajharan, Rourkela, and the availability of Rs 200 crore.
Sources reveal that in the past five years, the establishment of all TCs and ECs has remained stagnant, existing only in the files of the Ministry and progressing at a snail’s pace.
In April 2023, the office of the Development Commissioner (DC) under the Ministry floated a Request for Proposal (RFP) to appoint a CPSE as the Nodal Agency for establishing the new TCs and ECs on a turnkey basis. The deadline for bid submission was May 8, 2023.
The central PSU IRCON International Ltd on November 8, 2023 had in writing informed the BSE and NSE about its bagging the bid to act as Nodal Agency for establishment of TC and ECs. No further information is available, sources said.
Earlier, in a letter the office of the DC-MSME on January 3, 2020 had requested the Revenue department for transfer of 20 acre of surrendered leasehold land of the Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) of SAIL in the name of the DC-MSME through the director of MSME Development Institute (MSME-DI), Cuttack for setting up the TC as ‘Technology Hub’ at Kantajharan.
The letter had stated sanctioning of Rs 200 crore by the Ministry including Rs 100 crore for building infrastructure and rest Rs 100 crore for procurement of testing equipment and machineries for the TC to act as Technology Hub.
The then Rourkela tehsildar CK Mallick had confirmed transfer of 14.45 acre land at Kantajharan for the project in May 2023.
Former president of the Rourkela Chamber of Commerce and Industry Subrata Patnaik lamented the delay and said the Sundargarh district and Rourkela city have strong presence MSME units, but they are mostly confined to iron products due to lack of advanced technologies for product diversity.