Tata Steel's Rs19,500-crore Bastar project gets villagers' support
13 Oct 2009
India's largest private sector steel maker Tata Steel's proposed mega steel project in Chhattisgarh's Bastar district received a major boost yesterday with most of the local residents supporting the project in a public hearing organised by the state government.
"Most of the villagers who attended the hearing gave their consent for the steel plant," Bastar district collector M S Paraste said.
"Tata Steel officials made a presentation at a public hearing on Monday for environmental clearance and committed to invest Rs2,000 crore on environment conservation, Paraste added.
The hearing was organised by the Chhattisgarh Environment Conservation Board (CECB) at Lohandiguda in Bastar, some 340 km south of Raipur.
Tata Steel has proposed to invest Rs19,500 crore in Bastar district to set up a 5.5-million-tonne per annum plant.
"The public hearing programme was successful. The locals people of Bastar should be congratulated as the proposed steel plant would change the life of tribal-predominated region," Paraste told reporters.
