Bhubaneswar:
Cyrus P. Mistry, the chairman-designate of the Tata Group called on the Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik, on Tuesday evening "to pay a courtesy visit" and to discuss several on-going Tata projects in the state. Mr Mistry, however, did not take any questions from waiting mediapersons after his hour-long visit with the chief minister and other senior state government officials at the state secretariat in Bhubaneswar.
After the meeting Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik told media persons that he had asked Tata Group to set up a 500-bedded hospital in Ganjam district ( where Gopalpur is located ) and four Industrial Training Institutes to impart technical training to 1000 students per batch per institute in Jajpur ( Kalinga Nagar), Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj and Ganjam districts.
HM Nerurkar, the MD of Tata Steel who accompanied Mr Mistry said the 6 million ton Tata Steel plant in Kalinga Nagar which had been hit by delays in the last 5 years will be fully operational by March 2014.
Mr Nerurkar also added that the Tata SEZ project in the 3000-acre plot at Gopalpur-on-sea in the Ganjam district was on track and that the company was awaiting CRZ clearance before it could start work full-steam to set up a rolling mill and a ferrochrome unit at the SEZ site.
Mr Nerurkar also informed that Tata Steel has signed an expression of interest with the Karnataka government for a 6 million ton steel plant but this was still at a preliminary stage. He said he will be able to share more information on this project once there is further progress in the matter.