BJP demands Naveen Patnaik 's statement on Posco steel plant

BHUBANESWAR: Accusing the Odisha government of being insincere towards implementation of the Rs 52,000 crore Posco steel plant, BJP today asked Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to clarify what his administration had done during last the ten years to make the mega project a reality.

"The very fact that the Posco steel plant failed to take off since an MoU was inked with the South Korean firm, makes it amply clear that the Odisha Government is not at all sincere about implementation of the project," BJP leader Bijay Mohapatra told reporters here.

Though the MoU for the proposed project was signed way back in June 2005, there has been no progress on it due to indifference on the part of the government, Mohapatra said adding "it proves that the BJD government is highly incompetent and inefficient".

While the Chief Minister has chosen to keep mum on the Posco issue, his ministers were coming out with "misleading and contradictory" statements on the proposed unit, billed as the country's biggest FDI project, he said.

"Under the circumstances, the Chief Minister must come up with a clarification. Patnaik needs to explain to the people as to what his government has been doing in the last ten years to ensure implementation of the Posco project," the BJP leader said.

To a query on iron ore for the proposed Posco project, Mohapatra said auction route to get the raw material was a recent development and the state government's role before that raised questions about its sincerity towards the project.

Accusing the BJD government of cheating the people on Posco for 10 years, the BJP leader said "a dusty and cloudy atmosphere has been created and the Chief Minister must make his government's intention clear."

Refuting the BJP leader's claim, Odisha's Steel and Mines minister Prafulla Mallick said with the changed law, Posco should now clarify whether it would participate in the e-auction route to procure iron ore in order to set up its proposed steel plant near Paradip in Jagatsinghpur district.

The South Korean steel major should make its stand clear and hold discussion with the state government, he said.

On its part, the state government was prepared to do the needful to ensure raw material for Posco, Mallick said adding it can also make arrangements for making available iron ore through the Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC).