Petroleum and steel sectors play important role in Mission Purvodaya: Pradhan
Published: Nov 20, 2020
By TIOL News Service
NEW DELHI, NOV 20, 2020: THE Union Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Steel, Mr Dharmendra Pradhan, yesterday said that there can be no 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' without eastern India becoming self-reliant and tapping into the potential of the region.
Addressing the annual general meeting of Merchant's Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI), Mr Pradhan said Aatmanirbhar Bharatis about transforming India from being just a passive market to an active manufacturing hub at the heart of global value chains with a robust manufacturing sector, and a self-reliant yet globally integrated economy.
He said there was a need for the focused development of Eastern India to "harness the untapped potential of this region to fuel next wave of national growth."
"This is the essence of Mission Purvodaya. Both petroleum as well as steel sector have to play an important role in Mission Purvodaya", the minister said.
The eastern belt is developing an Integrated Steel Hubwhich would add to the competitiveness of the steel sector and facilitate regional development with job creation.It is expected that over 200 million tonnes of steel will come from this region alone by 2030-31.
"The steel clusters will drive employment opportunities across the value chain, creating both direct and indirect jobs and spurring entrepreneurship, including in under-developed areas. It will spur development of other manufacturing industries and will be accompanied with social infrastructure in the form of cities, schools, hospitals, skilling centres etc.", he added.
Similarly, the Indian gas grid is being expanded to new markets in eastern and north- eastern part of the country with the government's supports of capital grants under the Indradhanush North Eastern Gas Grid projects, the minister said.The Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga (PMUG) project has been directed to provide piped cooking gas to the millions of households in eastern states.