MIDC initiates process to acquire 3,000 hectares land for JSW’s Gadchiroli steel plant

Nagpur: Decks have been cleared for the acquisition of 3,000 hectares (over 7,400 acres) of land for JSW Group's Rs1 lakh crore steel plant in Gadchiroli district's Chamorshi tehsil. This week, Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) sent a formal proposal to the sub-divisional officer (SDO) for acquisition of the land parcel spread across 14 villages in Chamorshi.This is also dubbed to be one of the major land buyouts by a state govt agency. Under the pass-through method, MIDC would purchase the land from locals and hand it over to the company, which would in turn pay the price.
JSW Steel's managing director Sajjan Jindal had announced plans to set up a 25 million tonne capacity steel plant in Gadchiroli district during the Khasdar Audyogik Mahotsav event held last year. The JSW steel plant is expected to be a game changer for Gadchiroli. Lloyds Metals and Energy Limited's (LMEL) steel plant in Konseri is located around 30km from Chamorshi.Sources said MIDC proposal is the penultimate step for land acquisition. Next, the SDO would issue a notification for acquiring land after scrutiny of the proposal, and the process would start.The MIDC proposal comes after clearance from the govt. This means the notification cannot be withheld, though a routine scrutiny would happen, said a source. The procedure of earmarking the land parcel for industrial use has been also completed, said sources. Apart from JSW, MIDC has got acquisition proposals from nearly a dozen other companies, including LMEL for expanding its existing steel plant area, said sources.Another key player, Surjagad Ispat, which already took up 350 hectares of land for an integrated steel plant in the district, has initiated the second phase of acquisition too. It plans to buy another 1,000 acres, and the process was completed for 400 acres, said a source. In the third edition of Khasdar Audyogik Mahotsav held this month, Kolkata-based Supersmelters Limited announced a plan for starting a steel plant in Gadchiroli. Even Nagpur-based Jayaswal Neco Industries Limited signed a MOU during the World Economic Forum at Davos for a similar plant in the district.