Completion of mega projects in India in a time-bound manner is an urgent need to achieve the desired economic growth and for this all constituents of Indian democracy must work together, said Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Praful Patel at the annual convention of a local TV channel here on Tuesday.
Patel, who chaired a session on “Interminable wait for mega projects in India: Roadmap for unblocking bottlenecks,” said, “It is very important for a country to build mega projects and change the economic landscape. Think of Rourkela, Bokaro, Bhilai or Durgapur, where would the region be today if we didn’t have those mega projectsIJ”
Elaborating on the interminable delays in execution of mega projects, Patel said most of them are stuck because of environmental clearances.Talking about a recent Cabinet meeting, Patel cited how Coal India could not produce more coal as it didn’t have facilities to move the produce out. “There was a proposal to build 1,000-km-long railway line to move that coal, but unfortunately the Environment Minister and the Secretary were absent for which a decision couldn’t be taken,” he said.
Emphasising that Odisha has been sitting on 100 years of coal reserves, Patel questioned, “What is the point of having that coal if you can’t utilise it nowIJ In another 25-30 years, coal will become redundant for its high emission and other reasons.”