___________

Following is an excerpt from a report in LA Times about the Nano plant in Gujarat and how some of the landlosers have managed their finances.

But Pathan, and scores like him who live in the shadow of a new factory built by Tata Motors to make its ultra-cheap Nano car, are the beneficiaries of the race to transform India from a nation of small farmers to an industrialized power.

… Against this backdrop of strife, Pathan’s story is the ideal of what could be achieved if the more than 50 percent of Indians who live off the land get a real stake in the new economy. It’s a principle that advocates of market capitalism and human rights activists can agree on, but that often fails to materialize across rural India, where stories of powerful business interests and corrupt officials conspiring to throw poor farmers off their land are all too common.

Around the Tata plant in Sanand, in the western state of Gujarat, people have begun to talk of the "Nano effect."

Go down a narrow lane that runs to dirt not 15 minutes from the factory and amid the gamboling goats of Chharodi village, you will find 25 new homes.

Property prices have risen sharply — from 50 to 400 percent — and men are making fortunes brokering land deals.

The village head says three dozen of the 3,000 people in Chharodi have gotten work from contractors. The Nano factory hasn’t given them jobs directly, but it has offered a toehold in the industrial economy. They remain farmers, but a growing part of their income comes from informal business ventures or work for contractors.

Pathan and his three brothers sold the government one-third of their family farm to make way for the Nano plant. They were paid 20 million rupees ($432,900) — a fortune even in Gujarat, one of India’s richest states.

Ask the Pathan brothers what they did with this money, and they grin like schoolboys.

They bought 2.7 hectares (6.6 acres) of land — more than doubling their initial landholding — three kilometers (two miles) away, where they are preparing to plant their first crop.

They bought seven tractors and three Bolero jeeps, which they use for contracting work at the Nano site, raking in 455,000 rupees ($9,848) a month.

They are rebuilding their family home. Gone is the mud and thatch. Today their angular concrete two-story is the biggest on the block.

"You’ve done a damn good job out here," Pathan says of Ratan Tata, who heads the Tata group’s sprawling industrial empire.

The underlined part above is an important part. If the land losers are paid multiple times the "current" value of their land, in most places they can easily buy more than that amount of land within a few kms.

Following is an excerpt from a Nageswar Patnaik article in Economic Times. 

There is something to cheer about for the families displaced by the Tata Steel Project at Kalinganagar. These families have achieved zero dropout rate at elementary school level, sustainable environment, poverty eradication, increase in literacy rate, gender equality, empowerment of women.

The achievers of these challenging Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are not highly educated and extraordinary urbanite people, but ordinary members of self-help groups residing in rehabilitation colonies at Kalinga Nagar in Orissa’s Jajpur district.

Helped by country’s major steel producer, Tata Steel, the self-help groups called Tata Steel Parivars (TSPs) have successfully ensured that all children living in the colony went to the school and got education. Tata Steel is setting up of a 6-million ton per annum integrated steel plant at Kalinganagar Industrial Complex at Kalinga Nagar in Jajpur district.

“The noteworthy achievement of Tata Steel Parivars [TSP] at Kalinganagar is that those families have achieved the target of 100% elementary education with zero school drop out rate,” says Sukanta Rout, an educationist who played a crucial role in motivating the children, mostly tribals, to go to the school.

As many as 159 tribal children have been enrolled in the residential schools in Jajpur district. Similarly, 50 children have got the opportunity of studying in one of the premier schools of the state – Kalinga Institute of Social Science (KISS), here. As many as 213 children are studying in schools as day scholars.

Simultaneously, there is significant jump in the literacy levels of the TSPs from 45% in 2005 to 65% in 2010.

Most significantly, there has been an incredible and drastic change in the will power of women of these relocated families. The empowered women community are now self-employed and going overboard for what they are doing. They have engaged themselves in poultry farming, gardening, stone carving, saura painting and in setting up of small industries like phenyl and pickles.

“A few years before, we were quite poor, – we did not have money to even buy food, let alone send our children to school. Now with own our income, we are not only meeting our day-today expenses but also support our school and college-going children,” says Jamiti Mahanta, head of an SHG group.

If the industries that are coming up in Odisha, such as POSCO and Vedanta, can be made to do the above and perhaps more then it will be a win-win situation for all. POSCO’s current package seems to be a step in the right direction. Following is an excerpt from a Business Standard article on that.

Posco, the biggest foreign direct investment (FDI) in India at $12 billion (Rs 54,000 crore), has offered the largest ever compensation package in the country for the displaced and landless farmers.

The Rs 400 crore compensation — part of its estimated project cost — announced by Posco India for Orissa, is expected to benchmark industry relief in the country. The package will benefit over 2000 encroachers and landless labourers at the Posco site.

While Rs 100 crore will be provided for the acquisition of government and private land, Rs 100 crore will be given towards building a rehabilitation colony and Rs 200 crore as compensation to encroachers of government land.

The move – including encroachers of government land and landless labourers earning their livelihood from the area – was beyond the prescription of the state or national rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) policies.

While fixing the price of private land at Rs 17 lakh per acre, the Rehabilitation and Periphery Development Advisory Committee (RPDAC) for the Posco project announced a compensation of Rs 11.5 lakh an acre for the loss of betel vines, most of which are on government land. There are about 1,877 betel vines in the site covering 300 acres.

Landless labourers working in the betel vines will get 20 per cent of the total compensation for the loss, which is over and above the amount paid to the owners of the areas where betel is grown.

Similarly, RPDAC has prescribed assistance of Rs 2 lakh per acre for owners of the prawn gheris — most of which are operating on government land — and Rs 1 lakh an acre for farmers using government land for agriculture.

In a never-before step, the South Korean steel giant’s package will pay an unemployment allowance of Rs 2,250 a month to the landless labourers, who will lose their livelihood following the acquisition, till they are provided job by the company. Capping it all, RPDAC has decided to provide alternative housing to families who had encroached and built their houses on government land.

In comparison, the compensation package for sharecroppers or landless labourers in Bengal’s Singur was 25 per cent of what the land owner received — for a single-crop Rs 2 lakh and Rs 3 lakh for double-crop farmland. In Nayachar, the West Bengal government had promised to rehabilitate 100-150 fishermen families who had encroached upon government land — the site for a chemical hub.

The rate is also more than what neighbouring Chhattisgarh is offering. The government there recently hiked the compensation to Rs 10 lakh for an acre for two-crop farmland, Rs 8 lakh an acre for single-crop un-irrigated land and Rs 6 lakh for barren land.

The captive mines given to these companies and the royalty rate is a different issue. I believe that currently the royalty given to the state is too little.

Following is from an article by Nageshwar Patnaik in Economic Times. Nageshwar is a big critic of the Tatas. So coming from him, I give a lot of value to the article.

Buoyed by successful resettlement of displaced persons after five years, Tata Steel, which is setting up a 6-mtpa steel plant at Kalinga Nagar in Orissa’s Jajpur district, has undertaken massive infrastructure development work at the project site to get support of the local people, especially the tribals.

Under its Tata Steel Parivar resettlement and rehabilitation (R&R) programme, the leading steel producer of the country has laid 20 km of quality motorable roads connecting all rehabilitation colonies, besides constructing 32 km of drainage system at adjoining tribal-dominated villages such as Trijanga, Sansailo and Gobarghati.

As many as 300 sodium vapour halogen lamp posts have been installed and pipe water provision made to provide better life to the displaced people living in rehabilitation colonies.

Each colony in the project area has a dispensary, community centre and several education centres offering management and technical courses.

“The Tata Steel Parivar rehabilitation scheme at Kalinga Nagar provides substantially better facilities than the government-framed R&R policy. The government policy provides employment for one member from each core household. On the other hand, Tata Steel Parivar policy provides employment opportunities for each major member of the core house. It also provides training facilities for technical skill upgrade,” a press statement, issued by the company here on Thursday, said.

The release also noted that scholarships were being provided for displaced persons pursuing higher education in professional fields such as medicine, engineering and management.

“An amount of Rs 2.21 lakh is also provided as onetime assistance in lieu of employment. Further, under the Tata Steel Parivar policy, each family is given a monthly maintenance allowance of Rs 2,000-2,300 till they get employment in the plant whereas the policy stipulates payment of maintenance allowance for 12 months only,” it added.

The opposition in Kalinganagar has finally seen light and allowed the Tatas to build the infrastructure of Kalinganagar. Related to this, The Telegraph of UK has apologized to the Tatas for their negative coverage.

Things also seem to be going in the positive direction in the POSCO front and I hope the people there visit Tata’s colonies in Kalinganagar and demand and get similar or better facilities and form a positive partnership with POSCO. In addition the Odisha government should push POSCO in developing a POSTECH like University in Paradeep.

However, there is not much progress with respect to Vedanta Aluminum in Kalahandi or Vedanta University in Puri. Here again it would be wise for the people there to visit Tata’s colonies Kalinganagar and demand and get similar or better facilities and form a positive partnership with Vedanta. But the time may be running out for Puri as Vedanta University Project has indicated that it may give up and move south where it will be welcomed with open arms. If that happens it would of course be a mistake of a century for Puri and Odisha.

In regards to the Arcelor-Mittal and Keonjhar the company really has not made much visible effort to woo the people.

The government must investigate this.

The website of Jajpur Cluster Development Limited is http://www.jcdl.in/. As per the page http://www.jcdl.in/about.htm Kalinganagar Industries Association (KIA), an association of industries in the Kalinganagar Industrial Complex holds 51% equity capital in JCDL whereas the equity held by IDCO is 49%. The members of the KIA are:

As per http://www.jcdl.in/app_proj.htm the following projects have been approved for implementation.

Tathya.in has a report on the Trijanga township buil by Tata Steel in this area. Following are some excerpts

Eco-friendly atmosphere, planned township, wide concrete roads, round the clock power supply, piped water supply, permanent eco-management and drainage system with lush greenery are something, which even some of the modern townships in the country do not have.

But the new township established by Tata Steel Paribar in Trijanga in Jajpur has all these facilities and much beyond. …

The Company apart from providing 0.1 acres of homestead land and Rs 2.5 lakhs for house construction to relocated families had several round of discussions with them while planning for their new home at Trijanga Rehabilitation Colony.

While It has provided all the basic amenities like water supply, electricity supply, ration, community space, grain storage facility, children’s recreation park, toilets, welfare office, balwadis, dispensary etc, the sprawling greenery that has come up in last two years is for one to see it to believe it.

The colourful houses with dish antennas besides concrete paved roads with avenue plantation and permanent drains shows the commitment of Tata Steel to usher in a better quality of life for the rehabilitated families in Trijanga.

16 km all weather motorable roads, 32km of drainage, solid waste and garbage management through dedicated agencies has been provided.

The Company has also provided sodium vapor halogen lamps for street lighting.

Tata Steel Parivar members are also now use safe portable drinking water from running taps and consume 500 watts per family electricity.

Youths of Parivar member use Community centre for recreational purposes provided by the Company.

Round the clock health care facility is being provided in Trijanga Rehabilitation Colony through a dispensary and 24 hours standby ambulance services.

All of this hard work of rehabilitated tribals in a better atmosphere has blossomed into emerging township where rural and Urban Odisha co-exist. …

Following is an excerpt from a report in Economic Times.

… "The state has received an investment proposal of Rs.101,100 crore (Rs.1 trillion/$22 billion) from Jindal Steel and Power. About $10 billion has been proposed for the new coal-to-liquid project," a senior official of the state steel and mines department said.

The project includes the coal-to-liquid plant, the thermal plant and a coal washery.

A coal block has already been allocated to the company in Angul district, over 160 km from here, by the central government. And the steel producer and power utility is now looking for about 2,000 hectares of land for the project, Naveen Jindal said.

"About three sites were being explored and the company prefers a location near the coal block," a senior company official said.

Also, Jindal is building a 12.5 million tonne steel plant, a 1,320 MW capacity power plant and an industrial complex in the same district. The company requires about 4,500 acres land for the steel and the power plant. "About 4,000 acres has already been acquired," the official said.

"The work on the steel and the power plant is going on and we hope to commission one part of the power plant and the steel plant by the end of this year," he said.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

The Orissa government today signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Amtek Metal & Mining Ltd (AMML), for setting up a mega auto park with an associated two million tonne per annum (mtpa) integrated steel plant and 500 Mw power plant at Tangi in Cuttack district.

The project envisaging an investment of Rs 15,820 crore, is expected to generate direct and indirect employment for 33,000 persons. Out of the total projected investment, Rs 2050 crore is proposed to be invested for mega auto park in phases.

While the total land requirement for the projects is estimated at 2500 acres, about 550 acres will be required for the mega auto park. … AMML’s project consists of ferrous foundry, steel forging plants, steel fabrication plant, open die forging plant, special fastener, aluminium die casting plant, alloy steel plant and ring gear blank plant among others. It would transfer the hot metal from blast furnace to auto park for production of auto components.

… “With the signing of the MoU, we expect greater interest from the national auto industry which will help create an auto hub in the state”, Patnaik remarked. Taori said, the company would adopt ITIs and the polytechnics in the state to impart skill training to the unemployed youth in Orissa.

Following are excerpts from a report in tathya.in.

Odisha’s Power sector gets a relief as the first Unit of 2400 Independent Power Plant (IPP) at Jharsuguda would be commissioned in coming Summer’, he said to the media after meeting the Chief Minister.

This will add 600 MW to the state’s power production capacity and can help the State Government in facing the current power crisis. 

Mr. Agarwal revealed that construction work of world class Vedanta University near Puri has already started. 

At the first stage, the University will have a 1000 bed super specialty hospital and Medical College, also academic building. 

Vedanta Boss also informed the meeting that Lanjigarh refinery is fully operational by sourcing bauxite from other states, incurring a huge opportunity loss for both states as well as company. 

State Government has assured to look into the issue seriously and try to work out for an immediate solution. 

Construction activities for a specialized burn and trauma care centre at Bhubaneswar would begin very soon.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

After committing an investment of Rs 60,000 crore on various projects in Orissa including an aluminium smelter plant, an alumina refinery unit and a mega university project, London-based Vedanta Resources Plc has now evinced interest in setting up a steel plant in the state.

Vedanta plans to set up the steel plant in collaboration with engineering and construction major Larsen and Toubro (L&T).

… However, he did not provide details like capacity of the proposed steel plant, location and investment. It may be noted that in October 2004, Sterlite Iron and Steel Company, a subsidiary of Vedanta Resources, had inked an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with the state government for setting up a five million tonne per annum steel plant. The steel plant was to set up at Palasponga in the state’s Keonjhar district at an investment of Rs 12,502 crore. However, the project is yet to take off.

On bauxite supplies, Agarwal said, he has informed the state chief minister that Vedanta’s alumina refinery plant at Lanjigarh in Kalahandi district is operational and the company is sourcing bauxite from other states to run this refinery.

The chief minister has assured that us that bauxite supplies would not be a problem in Orissa which has the fourth largest deposits of the mineral ore in the country, Agarwal informed.

He further said the company is adhering to the environmental norms in running the Lanjigarh refinery, adding, “Our refinery at Lanjigarh is a world class refinery and it is a zero discharge and zero waste unit. …"

He pointed out that the company would commence mining operations at Niyamgiri hills in Kalahandi district after getting the environmental clearance.

Agarwal said, Vedanta has already invested Rs 39,000 crore on various projects in Orissa and these projects have generated direct and indirect employment for about two lakh people.

Vedanta Aluminium has also decided to set aside five per cent of its net profit or Rs 10 crore every year on welfare activities of the tribals of Lanjigarh. The amount will be spent on meeting the needs of the tribals in areas like education, livelihood and health.

The company will also build the hostel for the proposed engineering college of the state government at Bhawanipatna.

On the 2400 MW (6×400) power plant at Jharsuguda, Agarwal said, the first unit of the independent power project (600 MW) will be operational from the ensuing summer.

Talking on the company’s proposed university project, he said, “We have huge local support for our university project and at first we will set up a 1000 bed state-of-the-art hospital as a part of the project.” Apart from the 1000 bed hospital, Vedanta has also firmed up plans to set up a 100-bed burn and trauma care centre at Gangapada on the outskirts of the city. Construction work on this centre wold take off very soon, Agarwal stated.

Update: Following are some additional details from a report in Pioneer.

• Amtech Auto Engineering would set up the complex at an investment of Rs 15,820 crore near Tangi- Choudwar. It would set up a two million tonne steel plant and 500 MW captive power plant in the complex. With this about 33,000 people will get both direct and indirect employment.

  It may be mentioned here that Jamsedpur-based RSB Trasmissions (I) Ltd, one of India’s leading auto components manufacturers, is coming up with an auto complex at Mania in Cuttack. RSB Transmission will invest Rs 430 crore in the project.

• The committee also approved JK Cement‘s one million tonne capacity plant on the road between Athagrah and Choudwar.
• BOC would set up an air separation plant at an investment of Rs 434 crore in Rourkela. It would produce oxygen, nitrogen and argons.
• Bijaya Ferro Power Private Limited would set up a power plant at Keshinga in Kalahandi with an investment of Rs 550 crore. It would take water from Tel river to produce 120 MW power.
• Ind-Bharat’s proposal to enhance its power production capacity has also got the nod of the committee. It would set up its plant at Jharsuguda with an investment of Rs 3,300 crore.
• Facor would set up its captive power plant at Rahandia near Bhadrak.
• Due to shortage of water, few plants have also changed their sites. Odisha Cement Power Plant (OCL) has shifted its plant site from Mania to Rajgangpur.
• Jinadal Stainless Steel would set up its plant in Luni instead of Gajatara in Dhenkanal.
• Kalinga Energy Power Limited would set up its plant at Jharsuguda instead of Sambalpur.
• Scwal Brewage would set up its plant at Baranga instead of Choudwar at a cost of Rs 193 crore.
• The Rs 1,320 crore Sahara Power project has shifted its plant to Ghantabahal from Turul.
• German-based Gaunteman Pipery would set up its plant beneficiation plant and pelatisation plant. The beneficiation plant would come up at Barbil and the pelatisation plant at Dhamra. Around 1,605 crore would be invested in the project.
• Aditya Alumina’s proposal to enhance its production from one million tonne to 1.5 million tonne. It would also enhance its power plant from 650 MW to 900 MW.

Following is an excerpt from Orissadiary.

The projects of Adhunic Metalics and Jindal Stainless Steel at Sundargarh and Kalinganagar, respectively have been approved. The SWCLC has also given its green signal for an air-separation plant. Projects, involving Vijay Ferrochorme and Power Pvt Ltd and Adhunic Power plant have been cleared.

Amtech Metals would establish the integrated auto-complex, first of its kind in the state. Moreover, an auto-park, steel and power plant would also be established in the complex. The cost of the entire project has been pegged at Rs 15,820 crore. All the projects are expected to provide direct and indirect employment opportunities to nearly 47,000 and 1.5 lakh people, respectively apart from bolstering the socio-economic conditions in those regions where the proposed projects would come up, state Industries Secretary, Sourabh Garg said.

Tathya has some details on the Adhunik group’s project. Following are some excerpts:

Adhunik Power & Natural Resources Limited (APNRL) has proposed to invest Rs.3883.40 crore for the 4×250 MW power plant in Birmaharajpur in Sonepur district.

… Adhunik Metaliks Limited (AML), another member of the Group has proposed to set up Down Stream Park for stainless and special products with an investment of Rs.286 crore.  … downstream industries in hot-rolling, cold-rolling utensils, kitchen and hardware.  AML has also proposed for stainless steel pipes and alloys, which received the nod.
The park will be set up at Kumarmunda in a 300 acre area in Sundargarh district.

AML is setting up steel plant at Kumarmunda with a capacity of 0.41 million ton per annum (MTPA).

Tathya has also some details on the JSL project. Following are some excerpts.

JSL Limited posed a proposal to set up a Super Critical Thermal Power Station of 1320 (660X2) megawatt capacity, which has been cleared in the meeting. The Rs.4090 crore Greenfield project will be set up at Luni in Dhenkanal district.

Most importantly JSL, which is setting up a 3.20 million ton per annum (MTPA) capacity stainless steel plant at Kalinga Nagar has proposed to set up Stainless Steel Park (SEZ) with an investment of Rs.740 crore.  … The park will promote auto components, kitchen & life style, light engineering, white goods, cold rolling, pipes and tubes, and service centre. 300 acres of land for the park is needed for the park, which will have man power requirement of more than 2000, said sources. JSL plant is likely to produce stainless steel by end of 2010 and the park is also to be completed by the same time reveal the SLSWCA Report.

The above two downstream park proposals are most likely due to the recent government focus on those aspects, before giving mining leases. The govt. needs to make sure that the down stream parks indeed materialize as proposed.

Following is an excerpt from a PTI report.

South Korean steel giant Posco has finally got the clearance from the environment ministry for acquiring forest land for its proposed Rs 54,000-crore steel project in Orissa, which has been already delayed more than a year.

"The Centre gave the final clearance for handing over 2,900 acres of forest land to us for our 12 million tonne steel project in Orissa. We are hopeful that the state government would soon transfer the entire 4,004 acre of land needed for the project to us," Posco India General Manager, External Relations, Simanta Mohanty told PTI.

Nearly 3,600 acres of land out of required 4,004 acres fall under the government category, while the rest remains under private control.

A report in myiris states that: "About Rs 300 million is proposed to be spent by the company for the hospital project."

Following is an excerpt from a PTI report in Hindu Business Line.

Tata Steel is all set to establish a 200-bed hospital at Gobarghati in Kalinganagar industrial complex of Orissa’s Jajpur district.

About 10,000 people in the vicinity will benefit from the hospital as the steel giant has been extending healthcare facilities to people in its project as well as operational areas as part of periphery development and CSR plan, company sources said.

… For families affected in its green field steel project at Kalinganagar area, Tata Steel is setting-up the hospital in Gobarghati rehabilitation colony. The hospital building is under construction on a land of 4 acres and the civil part of the construction is almost over, the sources said.

When completed it would have round-the-clock service, pathology lab and outdoor complex. In a phase wise manner the number of beds in the hospital would increase to 200. Also to begin with, the hospital would have 4 to 5 doctors and required number of para-medical staff.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

The first phase of the Naveen Jindal-promoted Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL)’s proposed 6 million tonne per annum (mtpa) steel project and 1000 Mw power plant at Angul in Orissa is expected to be commissioned in 2011-12.

The shifting of families to be displaced by the project was going on and simultaneously, the construction of the boundary wall had started. The detailed engineering would follow the completion of the rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) of displaced persons and large scale construction would be taken up after that.

“We plan to start large scale construction work in January next year and the first phase commissioning is scheduled to be in 2011-12”, Rajesh Kumar Jha, executive director, JSPL told Business Standard.

He said, out of three villages to be shifted completely for the first phase construction, two villages had been rehabilitated completely. The remaining village would be rehabilitated by December this year. The company’s strategy of combining the project economy with the rehabilitated family’s economy has gone down well with the people. …

… the company had placed orders for civil and structural works worth Rs 1584.57 crore which was 60 percent of the estimated costs. Similarly, orders for plant and equipment worth Rs 4,034.34 crore had been placed which was about 35 per cent of the total estimated costs of plant and equipments.

The total cost of the project is Rs 22,420 crore with the first phase investment pegged at Rs 13,000 crore. The project has already attained financial closure and will have a 60:40 debt-equity ratio. While the debt component will be Rs 8,958 crore, the equity is Rs 13,452 crore.

…  While the company requires 5,279 acres for the steel plant, about 3000 acres have been acquired so far. The acquisition of additional 707 acres of private land is likely to be over by the end of this month.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Indopia.

  … "The first phase with 0.8 Mtpa capacity is expected to be commissioned by June-July, 2010. Work for the stainless steel plant is going on in full swing,"JSL Vice President and Managing Director Ratan Jindal told reporters after meeting Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

Though there has been some delay in the Rs 6,500 crore project …

Once the first phase is commissioned, work for the next phase would be expedited to achieve the 1.6 Mtpa capacity at the earliest.

… He said 50 per cent of the electricity generated from the captive power plant (cpp) of the company is being provided to the state government.

On the proposed 1,000 mw thermal plant to be set up in Dhenkanal, Jindal said details were being worked out for the project.

Tathya.in has a few statements on the simple style of Billionaire owner Ratan Jindal.

Ratan, in fact, known for his down to earth approach and simple life style.

He like others never moves in his personal jet and does not shows off his wealth, said an industry watcher.

He simply moves in Jetlite or Indigo with a few of his officers.

Ratan Jindal is the one of 4 sons of late O. P. Jindal. His mother is a minister in the Harayana state government and one of the brother Naveen Jindal is an MP. There are many colleges and a university with O. P. Jindal’s name. This includes the:

• O. P. Jindal Global University in Harayana with Jindal Global Law School as its first school
• O. P. Jindal Institute of Technology in Chhatisgarh under the aegis of Jindal Education and Welfare Society

The Orissa government should push Mr. Ratan Jindal for an engineering college and a medical college in Orissa.

Following is from Sambada. It reports that Jindal Steel of Kalinganagar is trying to give its extra power to its plant in Harayana against the agreement that the state of Orissa has the first rights to get that extra power. The Orissa high court was approached on this and it has put a stay order on this. Industrialists should realize that such attempt to steal from a state, that too a poor state like Orissa, is what gives the whole conecpt of industrailization a bad name.

Following is excerpted from a report in Indopia.

The Orissa government today formally approved investment of about Rs 35,000 crore in the power and steel sectors of the state. The high-level clearance authority (HLCA) chaired by Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik gave green signals for the investment in five power projects and one steel unit.

… The HLCA approved investment in five proposals in the power sector and one steel project, Garg said adding that altogether the projects would provide direct employment to over 6,000 people.

The projects, which got HLCA nod were – Visaka Thermal Power Limited (1100 MW), Sahara India Private Limited (1,320 MW), L&T (1,680 MW), JSPL (1,320 MW) and Ind-Bharat Limited (700 MW).

The HLCA approved JSPL&aposs another proposal of further investment in its proposed 6mtpa steel mill at Bainda.

JSPL, which had earlier proposed to invest Rs 13,135 crore in its steel project could now invest Rs 22,420 crore.

Following is an excerpt from a report in expressbuzz.com.

The State-level single window clearance authority (SWCA) today gave approval to nine project proposals worth over Rs 13,000 crore.

The Ashapura Minechem Limited, the largest multi-mineral solution provider in the country and the flagship of Ashapura Group, has evinced interest to set up mineral separation plant in Puri district with an investment of Rs 910 crore. The plant will separate minerals from beach sand and it will produce titanium dioxide, widely used in paints. The project will create employment opportunities for 300 persons, Industries Secretary Ashok Dalwai told mediapersons.

The other new proposal cleared by the SWCA was a 1.2 million tonnes iron ore beneficiation and pelletisation plant by Jaiswal Nicco Industries at Harmote near Barbil in Keonjhar district. The company planned to invest Rs 452 crore and the proposed project would generate employment opportunities to 500 persons.

The proposal of Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) for capacity addition to its existing steel plant from two million tonnes to six million tonne was also approved. The steel production of the plant will be 3 million tonne through DRI (sponge iron) route and another 3 million tonnes through blast furnace route. The company has also proposed to increase the capacity of its thermal power plant from 900 mega watt to 1080 MW. The total investment of the company will increase from Rs 13,135 crore to Rs 22,440 crore.

The authority also cleared the expansion plan of International Mineral Trading Company having a pelletisation plant at Barbil in Keonjhar district. The company proposed to set up an iron ore beneficiation plant of 1.5 million tonne capacity with an investment of Rs 175 crore.

The BRG Iron and Steel Company at Khurunti in Dhenkanal district proposed to increase its steel production capacity from 0.257 MTA to 1.2 MTA with an investment of Rs 960 crore. The project has received environmental clearance.

Shree Metallics also proposed to increase its steel plant capacity from 0.25 MTA to 0.98 MTA with an investment of Rs 709 crore. The other expansion projects include Grewal Associates sponge iron plant at Barbil to 0.25 MTA steel plant and a 15 MW power plant, Dinabandhu Steel and Power for a 0.26 MTA steel plant with 25 MW power plant and Ganesh Metallics for 0.25 MTA steel plant with 16 MW captive power plant.

There are at least two Bhushan companies. This article is about Bhushan steel Ltd.The other company is Bhushan Power and Steel.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

The combined area required by these units has now been assessed at 33,268.5 acres, 16.48 per cent less than the 37,750 acres envisaged in the memoranda of understanding (MoUs) between these companies and the state government.

The state-owned Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Orissa (Ipicol) had appointed MN Dastur & Co as consultant to prepare a report on the land requirement of various industries after receiving complains about companies demanding more land than they needed for the projects.

Ipicol, based on the report, has reassessed the land needs of the projects. The mega units that have been affected include Posco India, Jindal Steel and Power, Mittal Steel (India), Uttam Galva Steels, Sterlite Iron and Steel, and Bhushan Steel.

On the other hand, there has been no reduction in the land requirement of four mega units — Essar Steel Orissa (2,500 acres), SSL Energy (2,000 acres), Tata Steel (3,500 acres) and Welspun Power and Steel (2,200 acres). Out of the total land requirement, these steel companies have already applied for allotment of 32,034.9 acres, sources say.

Posco India, a subsidiary of South Korean steel major Posco, had sought 6,000 acres in the MoU signed with the state government in 2005 for its proposed 12-million-tonne per annum project near Paradip in Jagatsinghpur district. Ipicol, based on the Dastur & Co report, has reassessed the land requirement at 5,525 acres. The company has so far applied for 5,151 acres. While the state government has allotted 516 acres of its land to Posco, the company has already invested Rs 175.5 crore.

Jindal Steel and Power Ltd, which is setting up a six-million-tonne per annum steel project at Kerajang, needed about 5,750 acres. This has been cut to 3,843.5 acres by Ipicol. The company has applied to the Orissa government for 4,027 acres and has been allotted 1,719 acres. This includes 687.93 acres of government land and 1,031.85 acres private land. It has invested about Rs 765.46 crore in the project so far.

The land requirement of ArcelorMittal, which is planning to set up a 12-million-tonne greenfield steel project at Patna tehsil in Keonjhar district, has been reassessed at 7,750 acres. The company had sought 8,000 acres in the MoU. It has applied for 7,770 acres and has invested about Rs 50 crore for the project.

Similarly, the land requirement of Uttam Galva Steels, which is setting up a three-million-tonne steel project at Bistapal, has been reduced by 250 acres. While the MoU provided for allotment of 2,400 acres, Ipicol has reassessed this at 2,150 acres. The company applied for 2,146 acres and has been allotted 27.81 acres so far. The company has invested about Rs 35 crore for the project.

The three-million-tonne steel project planned by Sterlite Iron and Steel at Palasponga will have to manage with 1,000 acres less land than what was provided in the MoU. The company’s land requirement has been re-assessed at 2,400 acres. The company had applied for 3,378 acres, though has not been allotted any land so far.

The estimate of land needed by Bhushan Steel for its six-million-tonne per annum steel project at Meramundali in Dhenkanal district has been reduced by 600 acres. Though the company was to be provided 2,000 acres according to the MoU, Ipicol has reassessed the requirement at 1,400 acres. Bhushan Steel had applied for 1,994 acres and has been allotted 1,620 acres. It has invested Rs 5,000 crore in the project.

Following is  from a report in Economic Times.

MUMBAI: Larsen & Toubro shares edged higher Tuesday after it won orders worth Rs 1372 crore from aluminium and steel makers.

The orders were received from Vedanta Aluminium, a part of Vedanta group, Utkal Alumina International and Bhushan Steel, it said in a statement.

The Rs 516 crore order from Vedanta Aluminum was for setting up of a 3 million tonne per annum alumina refinery at its Lanjigarh plant in Orissa. Utkal Alumina’s order was worth Rs 455 crore in which the engineering and construction firm would set up a 1.5 MTPA green field alumina refinery at Doraduga in Orissa.

Furthermore, L&T has secured an order worth Rs 401 crore from Bhushan Steel for civil, structural, equipment, erecting and piping works at Angul in Orissa.

Following is from a report in Business standard:

The Orissa government today cleared projects worth Rs 1,27, 727 crore in steel, aluminium, power, downstream and ore beneficiation sectors.

The list includes 3 projects in the steel sector, 2 projects in the aluminium sector, 6 projects in the power sector, one downstream unit, and two beneficiation and pelletisation units.

… enhancement of the steel capacity of Jindal Stainless Limited (JSL) from 1.6 million tonne per annum (mtpa) to 3.2 mtpa at Kalinganagr Industrial Complex at an investment of Rs 16,266 crore and enhancement of capacity of Visa Steel in the same location from 0.35 mtpa to 1.5 mtpa at an investment of Rs 4995 crore were approved by HLCA.

The public sector aluminum major Nalco’s proposal to set up a 0.5 mtpa alumina smelter and 1260 mw power plant in two phases (840Mw + 420 Mw) at an investment of Rs 16,345.89 crore was also approved. Though the company preferred to set up the project at Brajarajnagar, the location might change. The company is seeking 275.30 hectares of land for the smelter and 575.7 hectares for the power plant.

Similarly, the proposal of the Navayuga Steels for setting up a 12 mtpa port based steel complex at Astaranga in Puri district at an investment of Rs 34,000 crore was cleared by the HLCA. The project will come up in 4 phases and the government will not commit any raw material linkage to it.

Though the company requires 4000 acres of land, the government will assess the land requirement as per the benchmarking report after the company submits the detailed project report (DPR), the minister added.

The public sector National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) was given the green signal to set up a 3200 Mw coal based mega power plant at an investment of Rs19,840 crore near the village Gajamara in Dhenkanal district. It requires about 3000 acres of land for the project and will source water from Mahanadi.

However, Jindal Stainless’ proposal to set up 1000 Mw Independent Power Producer (IPP) at an investment of Rs 4090 crore in the same location did not find favour with HLCA with the committee asking the company to change the site of the project.

Other projects which received the nod of HLCA are Rs 6800 crore investment proposal of RSB Metal-tech for setting up 1.4 mtpa alumina refinery, 0.35 mtpa aluminium smelter and 900 Mw CPP at an investment of Rs 6800 crore, Kalinga Energy’s 1000Mw thermal power project at an investment of Rs 4261 crore at Babuchakuli, Arati Steel’s 500Mw thermal power project at Ghantikhal in Cuttack district, Rs 4994 crore investment proposal of Chambal Infrastructures and Ventures Limited for setting up of 1200Mw thermal power plant at Siaria in Dhenkanal district.

Besides, Hyderabad based Lanco Solar’s 250 Mw fully integrated plant to manufacture crystalline silicon solar cells at an investment of Rs 2800 crore in Dhenkanal district, Bhushan Power and Steel Limited (BPSL)’s downstream and ancillary complex in Sambalpur district at an investment of Rs 1953.87 crore, JSW Steel’s proposal to set up 7 mtpa iron ore beneficiation plant and 5 mtpa pelletisation plant at Kamalang in Sundergarh district at an investment of Rs 1450 crore were through in today’s meeting.

Besides, the proposal of Welspun Orissa Steel to set up a 4.5 mtpa beneficiation plant at Nayagarh in Keonjhar district and 4.4 mtpa pellet plant at Dhamra in Bhadrakh district with an envisaged investment of Rs 1963 crore, the proposal of Astaranga Power Company to set up a 2460 Mw power plant at Astaranga at an estimated cost of Rs 11,200 crore were approved by the HLCA.

However, the decision on the 700 mw (Rs 1007crore) power plant proposal of Ind Bharat Energy, 1320 mw (Rs 5604 crore) power plant proposal of Sahara India Power Corporation and the 1100 Mw (Rs 4810 crore ) power plant proposal of Visaka Thermal were deferred.

Following is excerpted from a report in Business Standard.

With Orissa witnessing a rush of investment proposals in the iron and steel sector, the domestic and overseas steel majors are exploring the possibilities of developing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) around the large units proposed by them.

Tata Steel is developing a six-million tonne greenfield steel project at Kalinga Nagar, the emerging steel hub of the country. The firm has identified business opportunities worth Rs 12,000 crore in the ancillary and downstream units.

“The opportunities for ancillary and downstream units exist in the areas of operations and maintenance, core specialised services, support specialised services, processing and township management, to name a few. There can be different working models for development of local SMEs as ancillaries and downstream units. One such model includes Tata Steel and other steel majors working together with their ancillary partners in Orissa,” said K Shankar Marar, assistant general manager, (steel technology, at Tata Steel’s Kalinga Nagar project.

…  Another steel major, JSL, (formerly Jindal Stainless Limited), is keen on developing an industrial park based on downstream stainless steel industries, spread over an area of 300 acres as a part of its SEZ (special economic zone) in Orissa’s Jajpur district.

The SEZ is being developed at an investment of around Rs 700 crore. JSL has engaged US-based consultant CB Richard Ellis for developing a business plan for the project wherein opportunities for downstream industries will be explored.

The SEZ is set to provide direct employment to 3,800 workers besides generating indirect employment for 1,200 others.

Posco which has announced an investment of about Rs 52,000 crore for a 12 million tonne steel plant near Paradeep is also committed to development of ancillary and downstream units and the steel giant has engaged IIT-Kharagpur for a study on the opportunities that exist in this area.

According to a study conducted by IIT-Kharagpur for Posco India, opportunities for SME entrepreneurs exist in the areas of structural steel, ready mixed concrete, refractory, steel and concrete piles, pipes, propeller shafts and furnace building to name a few.

According to the study, opportunities also exist in other operational areas like steel probes, mould flux, thermos materials, manufacture and fabrication of structures, conveyor belts and electrical equipment repairs.

The study adds that business opportunities worth Rs 320 crore exist in the area of refractory, Rs 44 crore for cement, Rs 2.5 crore in hydraulic hoses and Rs 4 crore in wire rods. The first phase of Posco India’s project would generate 35,728 labour intensive jobs and another 30,420 technology intensive jobs.

… Aarti Steel has already started its efforts for developing SMEs as ancillaries for its steel plant in the state.

“We have sourced items and spare parts worth Rs 37 crore from 47 local partners till March 2008. Aarti Steel plans to develop two forging units adjacent to its steel plant for the benefit of the local entrepreneurs and we have approached IDCO to provide land for these units”, said a senior official of Aarti Steel.

On its part, the Orissa government plans to incorporate a clause at the MoU (memorandum of understanding) level with the private steel players to ensure that the mother industries will make necessary efforts for development of ancillary and downstream units.

The efforts made by the steel units to develop the ancillary units will be monitored by officials like district collectors and revenue district commissioners.

Steelguru.com gives some specifics of the SME/MSE impact with respect to Tata Steel’s Kalinganagar plant.

BS reported that the 6million tonne per annum greenfield steel project proposed by TATA Steel in Kalinganagar will require maintenance support services worth INR 1,200 crore when fully commissioned. These services will be outsourced by the company and are expected to create huge opportunities for the small and medium enterprises in Orissa.

The services to be outsourced include warehousing, machine shop, electrical repairing shop, fabrication shops, electrodes and lubricant suppliers, waste management, mechanized material handling and hospitality among others. Since the maintenance cost is about 4% of the total investment in steel industry, this is expected to create huge opportunities for the small and medium enterprises.

Mr B K Singh VP Orissa project of TATA Steel said that "We will invest about INR 30,000 crore in the Kalinganagar project in phases and will require maintenance support services worth INR 1,200 crore.”

He added that the group will work towards developing the local entrepreneurs and will provide assistance to anyone who wants to be a partner in TATA Steel’s business. He added that TATA Steel will give the first right of refusal to local industries in the maintenance support services.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Financial Express.

Orissa government’s Single Window Committee on Thursday cleared 13 industrial projects involving a total investment of Rs 27,193 crore. It includes three power projects, one steel, two cement, five iron ore beneficiation and pelletisation, on photo cell and one brewery projects.

… The big-ticket projects recommended to HLCC are Visakha Thermal Power Plant, Hind Bharat Energy, Lanco Solar, JSW Steel, Bhusan Power & Steel Ltd, Astarang Power Company Ltd and Welspun Steel Ltd.

While Astarang Power Company Ltd is planning to set up a 2640 mw plant in Puri district with an investment of Rs 11,200 crore, Visakha is proposing to set up an 1100 mw plant in Bhadrak district entailing an investment of Rs 4800 crore. The Hind Bharat Energy is proposing to enhance the capacity of its power project at Jharsuguda to 700 mw from 250 mw investing Rs 3150 crore. Bhusan Power & Steel, on the other hand, is setting up steel facilities for cold rolling steel, wire, rod, galvanised steel besides cement at Sambalpur, with an investment of Rs 2000 crore.

Welspun has plans to set up a 4.5m tonne per annum (mtpa) iron ore beneficiation and pelletisation plant in Bhadrak district with an investment of Rs 1900 crore. Simultaneously, JSWA is proposing to set up a 7 mtpa iron ore beneficiation plants and a 5 mtpa pelletisation plant in Sundergarh district investing Rs 1450 crore.

Among the projects cleared by the panel, Bhusan Steel Ltd is going to put up facilities for 4 mtpa iron ore beneficiation and pelletisation in Keonjhar district with an investment of Rs 850 crore.