Jamshedpur, May 27: Union minister for fertiliser and chemicals Ananth Kumar was all praise for Jamshedpur today, saying it was as important a city in Jharkhand as capital Ranchi, and called for its overall development given its national importance as a centre of steel.
Addressing newsmen at the local Circuit House, the Union minister described Jamshedpur as "mini Mumbai" because of its cosmopolitan culture, flourishing business and industries.
"Jamshedpur is an important steel-producing town. I want 'Jamshedpur Development Dialogue' to be a part of a summit which I have asked the state government to hold, whereby ministers from the Centre can come to Ranchi and brainstorm on various sectors. The idea is to deliver maximum benefit to Jharkhand," Kumar said.
The minister went on to say that Jamshedpur was equally important as Ranchi. "Jamshedpur needs flyovers and other infrastructure for its overall development. The issue of ownership rights of 86 slums is also pending for a long time. We want the issues to get settled soon," he added.
The Union minister who was in Jamshedpur to attend a BJP function, revealed that he had spoken to local MP Bidyut Mahto and senior BJP leader Dineshanand Goswami and discussed how to bring about more infrastructure development in the steel city.
" Hum Jamshedpur shahar ka kaya kalp karna chahte hain. Is sahar ka aaham bhumika hai hamare desh ki liye, khaas kar ispat udyog ke liye (We want to give Jamshedpur a complete makeover. The city has a special significance for the country, especially for steel production)," he said.
The fertiliser and chemicals minister then moved on to national concerns, saying the country, which produces 2.25 lakh tonnes urea annually, would become self-sufficient in urea production in the next four years.
"Production of urea will be augmented by another 20 lakh tonnes per annum which will generate employment opportunities for about 3,500 people. The fertiliser plant at Sindri will be revived with world-class technology. The plant will be able to produce 13 lakh tonnes of urea per annum. The urea produced at the Sindri plant will cater to the three states of Bihar, Jharkhand and Bengal," Kumar said.
The minister said the Modi-government had taken initiatives to reopen all closed urea and fertiliser plants in the country, including Sindri in Jharkhand, Barauni in Bihar and Talcher in Odisha.
On steel, the minister said the government has decided to add 200MTPA in the next 10 years to the present capacity of 100MTPA.
"Our aim is to make India a steel hub of the world and we are initiating steps accordingly," he said, adding the expansion of steel plants at Rourkela and Burnpur was being undertaken at a cost of Rs 26,000 crore.
The minister said that the Centre planned to start four new steel plants of 3MTPA capacity in Odisha, Bengal, Karnataka and Chhattisgarh with proposed investments of around Rs 2,40,000 crore.
