The State Government on Monday urged the Central Government to set up six more software technology parks of India (STPIs) in Odisha in addition to the existing four.
Information Technology (IT) Minister Pranab Prakash Das placed this demand during his meeting with Union Minister for Information Technology (IT) Ravishankar Prasad in New Delhi.The new STPIs have been proposed at Jajpur, Sambalpur, Jeypore, Angul, Rayagada and Kalahandi. Now, four STPIs are operating in State, once each at Bhubaneswar, Rourkela, Brhampur and Baleswar.
Das urged Prasad to expedite the final clearance for two projects, the Rs3, 700-crore IT investment region spread over 10,210 acres of land in Bhubaneswar and the Greenfield Electronic Manufacturing Cluster spread over an area of 215 acres.Das also met Union Power and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal. He urged Goyal to expedite grant of mining lease for Manoharpur coal block allocated to Odisha Power Generation Corporation (OPGC) for its second-phase expansion project of 1,320-MW generation capacity at its Banharpalli plant in Jharsuguda district.
Das also urged Goyal to provide interim coal linkage to the OPGC expansion project from the Basundhara coalmines to run the plant. He also sought Goyal’s intervention for availability of stage-II forest clearance for Manoharpur coal block, which is pending with the Ministry of Environment and Forest. The Minister also demanded that the decision to disallow the benefits of Restructured Accelerated Power Development and Reforms Program (RAPDRP) to the consumers of the three private distribution companies (discoms) of the State be reconsidered.
Due to the non-extension of R-APDRP in the State, which was pioneer in the power sector reforms in the country, Odisha is losing around Rs1,500 crore per annum, Das pointed out during talks with Goyal.