FILE PHOTO OF NAVEEN PATNAIK WITH INDUSTRIALISTS

By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, December 19, 2016 : Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday set an ambitious target to the officials to ensure minimum capital investment to the tune of Rs 1.5 lakh crore in the state and create 30 lakh jobs by 2025 in just three years time.

Reviewing the status of investment in the industrial sector as per the promises made by the companies at the recent ‘Make In Odisha Conclave’ here, Patnaik asked the officials to speed up the process for capital investments in Odisha.

Patnaik in particular directed the officials to follow up the proposals worth Rs 70,000 crore in Make In Odisha’s Mumbai edition, Rs 90,000 crore in the Bengaluru edition and Rs 2,35,000 crore worth investment proposals in the ‘Make In Odisha’ Conclave here.

He also directed the concerned departments to form an inter-ministerial committee to be headed by the Industries minister as its chairperson with the ministers of Mines, MSME, Forest and Environment and IT as members and a task force to monitor the progress in grounding of the investment proposals.

“To expedite the process, the meeting decided to entrust the responsibility to senior bureaucrats. A task force comprising of senior bureaucrats would be formed. The task force would be headed by the chief secretary with secretaries of 12 departments would be the other members. The chief minister gave 3-year time to the officials to ensure minimum capital investments to the tune of Rs 1.5 lakh crore in the state,” Industries minister Debi Prasad Mishra told media persons after the meeting.

The two panels will conduct monthly reviews and oversee co-ordination between all departments involved in the various investment projects. The Ministerial Group would submit reports to the chief minister every month, Mishra said.

While the ministerial group would be headed by Industries Minister Debi Prasad Mishra, Chief Secretary A P Padhi will preside over the Special Task Force. Industries Secretary Sanjeev Chopra will be the convener of the task force.

In January, officials said government delegates will hold discussions with interested companies in Kolkata, Mumbai and Bengaluru and those that participated in the ‘Make In Odisha’ events.