Guwahati, April 3: Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi has asked the industries and commerce department to take necessary steps to procure wax from Numaligarh Refinery Limited to provide rightful vocations to women in candle-making.

This was discussed in a review meeting of the department of industries and commerce at his official residence last evening. Gogoi has asked additional chief secretary, industries and commerce, Ram Tirath Jindal, to coordinate with the NRL on the wax issue.

The wax project will be commissioned soon and was approved for implementation in June 2010. The project is being implemented at an approved cost of Rs 676 crore.

The project envisages production of high value paraffin and micro-crystalline wax, utilising inherent properties of the Northeast crude, which has a high wax content.

Paraffin wax is used for making candles, polishes, medicines, food packaging, paints, leather, while micro-crystalline wax is mainly used in the cosmetic industry.

This will be the largest wax unit in the country when it gets commissioned. The company has already chalked out a marketing plan and it will help save imports.

A source said the project would help cut down the wax import by 50 per cent and will save the foreign exchange of the order of about Rs 500 crore annually.

Gogoi has asked the department to rev up its activities in a big way and initiate steps to uplift the economy of the state through the promotion of micro, small and medium enterprises.

He also asked the department to utilise the land productively and whatever land was lying unutilised should be used to set up small-scale industries for the uplift of local entrepreneurs. Moreover, instruction was also given to develop infrastructure in the industrial estates in public-private partnership mode and assured all government help to achieve this end.

Till date Assam has 41,410 micro, small and medium enterprises and 163 large industrial units.