Bhubaneswar: Despite the controversy over Confederation of Indian Industry's decision to back out of the second edition of Make in Odisha conclave, Odisha government on Sunday said it would go ahead with organising the business conclave in November.

Industries minister Ananta Das said: "Through the Make in Odisha event in 2016 the state has received till January 55 investment proposals worth Rs 79,369.58 crore. The proposals have come from sectors such as food processing, tourism, power and renewable energy, metal and mineral, IT, manufacturing, infrastructure, health care, fertiliser and petrochemicals."

He said all these proposals had received the nod of the state-level single window committee. "In the health sector, the state has received Rs 1,006.43 crore investments," he said.

Das added: "Because of the pro-industrialisation move in the state over the years, the state has so far signed 92 MoUs and received Rs 5.68lakh crores. Out of this, 46 companies have already invested 2.54 lakh crore in the state."

However, eight of these companies stalled their production midway and 10 projects have already withdrawn. The projects that have been withdrawn include Posco and Arcellor Mittal.

While Posco had committed to invest around Rs 51,000 crore, Mittal had pledged to commit Rs 40,000 crore. Both have withdrawn alleging that they did not get land at the right time. However after the set back, the state government has streamlined its land allotment policy.

Officials said: "We will put all our resources to organise the second edition of the Make In Odisha conclave from November 11 in a big way to send a message that Odisha always backs the industrialisation process."

A senior official said: "The state government had organised the first edition of the Make In Odisha conclave by just spending Rs 21 crore and got a lot of investment proposals.

Today, more than 60 per cent of these proposals are at various stages of approval. Keeping all these things in mind, we will ensure that without the CII's backing the business conclave turns a success."

Industries department officials said: "The investment promotion efforts of the state are focused towards sustainable industrial growth leading to increased employment opportunities and all round development."

Congress minders

Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday appointed three new secretaries in-charge of Odisha. They are Rudra Raju and Shaikh Mastan Vali from Andhra Pradesh, and Anil Kumar Chaudhary from Delhi. They will assume charge with immediate effect, an official release from the All India Congress Committee (AICC) said. Party leader Aditya Sharma has been appointed as joint secretary, AICC (Odisha). On March 31, Rahul appointed former Union minister Jitendra Singh as the party's Odisha in-charge to replace B.K. Hariprasad.