Bhubaneswar: The state government has geared up to put pressure on industrial houses to stress on spending their corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds to win the confidence of local residents.

The decision comes in the wake of public agitations in various parts of the state against industries in the past few months.

An official said: "A CSR portal, www.csr.odisha.gov.in, has been developed to act as a one-stop location for all information with respect to CSR activities being undertaken in the state. There are also proposals for the CSR portal to host information regarding various ongoing projects and planned and completed CSR projects in the state."

As part of the exercise, the government is now compiling all the information, including contact details of all industrial houses with turnovers of Rs 1,000 crore or net worth of Rs 500 crore or net profit of Rs 5 crore.

Rajib Dhal, deputy general manager of the Industrial Promotion & Investment Corporation of Odisha, said: "More than 100 companies have provided information about their CSR activities. The government has the mechanism to monitor it."

An official of the state industries department said: "The institutionalisation process is expected to enhance the convergence of CSR activities being undertaken by various corporate groups and institutions with the development objectives of the state."

Dhamara port spokesperson Sibasis Mishra said: "We have put our focus on the integrated development of health, education and infrastructure. We have already set up an English medium school and colleges for the development of education. Similarly, focus is on for the development of health system around the port area. We spent more than Rs 10 crore on CSR last year."

In August, the local residents had forcefully entered the company premises following the death of three workers in the collapse of a coal heap.

Since then, the port authorities have made a conscious attempt to lessen the anger of the local residents through such activities aimed at them.

GAIL India projects director Ashutosh Karnatak said: "We have already set up a school at Sisupalgarh and are taking steps to undertake our corporate social responsibility in the area through which our pipeline passes."