Hitting out at BJP Prime Ministeral candidate Narendra Modi, Union steel Minister and Congress Working Committee(CWC) member Beni Prasad Verma said theworld knows who has spread poison in society through his communal agenda.
''Our leader Sonia Gandhi did not take anyone name during her statement on poison. It was just like 'Chor Ki Darhi Me Tinka' that only Narendra Modi reacted to it. Ms Gandhi could be termed as a missionary of peace in thecountry,''union minister claimed. Addressing news conference here soon after attending meeting of Steel Consumer Council here on Monday afternoon, Beni Prasad Verma said development inthe country could only happen when there is social peace.
But could the BJP leaders spread peace violating their communal agenda, he questioned. He also termed country's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru as the architect of modern India but now the Opposition was not even sparing him due to vote politics, which was unfortunate. Claiming that there was no challenge before him from the Samajwadi Party which is holding a rally in his Parliamentary constituency Gonda on Monday, Union minister said ,'' when they have not accepted my challenge then how can they challenge me.'' Reiterating that he will contest from Gonda seat this time too and one of his supporters will contest from Kaiserganj, the Union minister alleged that the SP government in UP was not supporting on the development works of his steel department.
''My fight is not with Akhilesh Yadav but with his father Mulayam Singh Yadav in the elections,'' he said. Taking a dig at the SP government, he said it was surprising that when children were dying in relief camps in Muzaffarnagar, the state police was engaged in searching for stolen buffalos of state minister Mohammad Azam Khan. ''This SP government is the most inefficient government in the world and there is no philosphy of the government at all,''he alleged. Reacting to the release of a list of corrupt leaders by AAP Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, he said Kejriwal was an Income Tax (IT) officer who thinks that except for him everyone also was corrupt.
Talking about the lack of support from the UP government over the developmental works by his department, Verma said even without the support of the UP government, the Centre was setting up two power plants of 500 megawatt each in the state.''The previous Mulayam Singh Yadav government even gave freeland for Dadri Gas based power project which did not commence. But now they are not taking interest in the land to be purchased by the Centre for the projects,''he alleged.
Meanwhile, Verma, addressing the 24th meeting of steel consumer's council here said that India had emerged a net exporter of steel during April-December 2013 and thus became the first ministry to be awarded ISO 9001:2008 certification. He said India was now the fourth largest steel producer in the world and its current production capacity was 96 million tones per annum that would gradually touch 300 million tones by 2025. The minister also said his recent visit to Australia and New Zealand was fruitful as these countries have accepted to givecoal and iron ore to India to enhance its steel production in future.
Disclosing the development taken up by him in UP, Beni disclosed that under his regime, ten Steel factories are being set up at locations like Gonda, Barabanki, lakhimpur, Hardoi, Jhansi, Kaisergunj, Mirzapurm, Ambedkar Nagar and Bahraich. Each plant will be set up at a cost of approximately 100 crores and will provide employment to 200 people. Besides, a Forged Wheel Plant is being set up at Rae Bareli and two Power Plants of 500
Mega Watt each are also being set up at Jagdishpur and Gonda. Each power plant will have an investment of Rs. 3,000 crore approximately and will provide employment to about 1000 people. Another steel unit is also being set up at Jagdishpur which will have a 13,000 tonnes per annum capacity corrugation unit and a TMT Bar mill of capacity 1,50,000 tonnes per annum. Stockyards are also being set up at Gorakhpur and Gonda. Verma said that Government is committed to accelerate growth of the Steel industry through various policy measures. He expressed concern over the gap in steel consumption amongst rural and urban areas and enumerated the steps taken to bridge it.
Chairman, SAIl C.S.Verma said,"The uptrend in the first month of 2014 is a firm indicator of the times to come. We are confident of maintaining the momentum in sales growth, which will be supported by production of better and wider range of products like universal beam, wire rods and wider plates from the new state-of-the-art facilities coming up in phases." He claimed that SAIl has accomplished sales of 1.14 million tonnes (MT) in January 2014, up by 10% compared to same month last year (SMlY).