A high-level meeting has been organized in the presence of Shri H.D. Kumaraswamy, Hon'ble Minister of Heavy Industries and Steel, Shri Jual Oram, Hon'ble Tribal Affairs Minister and Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, Education Minister on the expansion of Rourkela Steel Plant. Senior officials of Odisha Government, SAIL and Rourkela Steel Plant officials were present in this meeting.

In this meeting, the doubling of railway line to increase the production capacity of Rourkela Steel Plant from 4.5 metric tonnes to 9.3 metric tonnes and for transportation of produced steel has been discussed in detail. There is ample possibility of employment generation and expansion of industrial capacity.

Participating in the meeting, Shri Jual Oram, Tribal Affairs Minister also drew the attention of the Steel Minister about the problems being faced at the local level, including providing employment to displaced youth. Special emphasis has been laid on providing employment and SAIL has been requested to provide additional land for the expansion of Rourkela Airport.

It has been unanimously decided in this meeting that the Ministry of Steel should constitute a high level committee comprising senior officials of the Ministry of Steel and Odisha Government and officials of SAIL to give suggestions for effective solution of problems arising at local level.

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RN/PIB

(Release ID: 2139908)