Following resistance from farmers to the POSCO steel plant proposed in Gadag's Mundargi taluk, the State is now contemplating shifting the plant to an alternative site.
The Government is scouting for land in neighbouring taluks in Gadag district for the project, Industries Minister Murugesh Nirani told presspersons on the sidelines of a meeting of the CII Southern Regional Council here on Thursday.
He added that representatives from POSCO will meet him about possible new sites.
“It is left to POSCO to decide where it wants to set up the steel plant,” Mr. Nirani said.
Last year the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) had issued preliminary notification to acquire 3,382 acres of land in Halligudi village in Mundargi taluk, sparking protests by farmers.
Addressing the CII Council, Mr. Nirani said that the mission of the State's second Global Investors Meet (GIM) scheduled this year is to attract Rs. 6 lakh crore of investment, create 10 lakh jobs and double the States GDP by 2020.
Aerospace policy
G.V. Sanjay Reddy, Chairman, CII (Southern Region), said that CII and the State Government have been working on developing the aerospace sector. He added that the Karnataka Aerospace Policy is expected to be announced in the next couple of weeks.
“At present, there are some grey areas such as inadequate infrastructure, power shortages and availability of land that are concerns which do not help in facilitating capital investment in the State. We cannot let these factors affect the pace of our industrialisation anymore,” he said.
Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda said that the State has 58 special economic zones that provide a duty-free enclave for driving FDI and exports.
Karnataka has the distinction of having the largest number of research and development centres in India and it is the largest software exporter in the country, he said.
GIM 2010 garnered an investment of Rs. 3.92 lakh crore. Out of the 389 projects, 31 have been implemented, while 289 are under implementation.
