Approve proposals for capital investment in the plants for ethanol production: CM

Central Chronicle News
Raipur, Jul 15: Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has directed to examine and approve the capital investment proposals for setting up plants for production of ethanol from maize and sugarcane in the state, at the earliest. While addressing the 15th meeting of State Investment Promotion Board at his residence office today, Chief Minister said that two committees should be constituted to solve the problems of all the industries. For the policy matters, a committee should be constituted under the chairmanship of Industry Minister, and for implementation related concerns, committee should be formed under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary, directed Baghel. He said that these committees would expedite the work of setting up of agro-based industries and iron-mineral based industries in Bastar region.
In the meeting of State Investment Promotion Board held today, the progress in implementation of the 55 MoUs signed in year 2001-18 and the MoUs signed for setting up industries in the state during the Global Investors’ Meet in the year 2012 was reviewed. After the review, a total of 158 MoUs, including 55 MoUs of 2001-2018 and 103 MoUs signed during Global Investors’ Meet in 2012 were canceled due to inaction.
It was informed in the meeting that between year 2001 and 2018, 211 MoUs for capital investment of Rs. 3 lakh 3 thousand 115 crore 70 lakh were signed, out of which actual capital investment of Rs 78776.36 crore was done. Production has started in 67 MoUs, implementation has started in 61 MoUs, while works have not yet started in 55 MoUs. This is the reason why these 55 MoU were cancelled. Similarly, in the Global Investors’ Meet, 275 MoUs were signed for capital investment of Rs. 93,830 crores 69 lakhs, out of which the actual capital investment of Rs. 2003.59 crore was received. 25 projects have already been started after site selection, while no work has started in the remaining 103 MoUs.
These 103 MoUs have been cancelled by the board today. In the meeting, the officials informed that 115 MoUs are in force since the year 2019 with the proposed capital investment of Rs 46 thousand 937 crore. Implementation in 92 of these projects has started, whereas production has been started in one of the projects. Implementation of 23 new MoUs is yet to be started.
Industries Minister Kawasi Lakhma, Forest and Climate Change Minister Mohammad Akbar, Agriculture and Water Resources Minister Ravindra Choubey, Revenue Minister Jaisingh Agarwal, Chief Secretary Amitabh Jain, Additional Chief Secretary of Commerce and Industry Subrat Sahoo, Principal Secretary Manoj Kumar Pingua, Secretary to Chief Minister Siddharth Komal Singh Pardeshi, Special Secretary Energy Ankit Anand, Director Industries Anil Tuteja and Managing Director of CSIDC Arun Prasad were present at the Chief Minister’s residence in Raipur. Labor Minister Dr. Shivkumar Dahria, Additional Chief Secretary Panchayat and Rural Development Department Renu G. Pillay, Excise Department Secretary Niranjan Das, Revenue Secretary Rita Shandilya attended the meeting through video conferencing.