Steel minister inaugurates Steel Week at Expo 2020 in Dubai

The minister of steel, Ram Chandra Prasad Singh, inaugurated Steel Week at the Indian Pavilion at Expo 2020 in Dubai earlier this month.

The event showcases the potential of India in the sector and invites investors from the UAE, said the Union government.

The event, reflecting India’s push for new investments in the sector, happened against the backdrop of ongoing unrest against a recently proposed steel plant near the Paradip port in Jagatsinghpur district, Odisha.

India's aggressive push for new steel represents everything askew with developmental ambitions, its global role in mitigating carbon emissions, its pretence about safeguarding the rights of indigenous communities, and its regard for public health and safety.

Moreover, the steel ministry is pushing for new investments when the production capacity of the country is already more than its current production and demand.

The integrated steel plant, with a production capacity of 13.2 million tonnes per annum (mtpa), will be supported by a 900-MW captive power plant that is proposed to be constructed by JSW Utkal Steel Limited. The Rs 65,000-crore project will need about 3,000 acres of common lands. The project will also have a cement plant of 10 mtpa and captive jetties with a handling capacity of 52 mtpa.

The project is proposed to be constructed at the same site where a South Korean company, POCSO, was to build a steel plant. The memorandum of understanding (MoU) between POCSO and the Odisha state government, signed in 2005, was greeted with stiff resistance from the locals. The conflict continued until 2016, leaving 10 civilians injured by the state’s security forces.

The movement pushed the National Green Tribunal for an environmental clearance relook given to the project. In its order in 2016, the tribunal criticised the government for considering only 4 mtpa in its environmental impact assessment while the project’s capacity was 12 mtpa.

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