After battling dissidence and other problems for the better part of 2009, Karnataka chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa has decided to take on 2010 head-onIn Delhi this week to attend the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, Yediyurappa has announced that the world’s largest steel manufacturing group has evinced interest in the State.
“Mr Lakshmi Mittal has come forward to set up a megal steel plant in Karnataka with an investment of Rs 30,000 crore,” the CM said after meeting the chief of Mittal-Arcelor. “Another steel giant from South Korea, Posco, has also come forward to set up a mega steel plant with an investment of Rs 32,300 crore.”
Inasmuch as the amounts are staggering and the employment prospects are delicious, the truth remains that both Mittal-Arcelor and Posco are facing trouble in land acquisition and regulatory approvals in Orissa and Jharkhand where they have already announced similar mega plans.
Questions: Will Mittal-Arcelor and Posco really be able to realise their dreams in Karnataka, a state where land acquisition has always been a problem for road projects (like the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor) and power plants (Cogentrix, etc)? Or is Yediyurappa speaking through his hat? Is he just trying to send a signal to the Reddy brothers, that he too can tango, or is he making peace with them by offering Bellary as one of the locations for the proposed Mittal plant? Or are the Mittals playing one State against the other?
Tags: B.S. Yeddyurappa, B.S.Yediyurappa, Churumuri, Jharkhand, Lakshmi Mittal, Mittal-Arcelor, Orissa, Posco, Reddy Brothers, Sans Serif, South Korea, Yedi
8 January 2010 at 5:03 pm
yes
Togri byali prices and new steel plants will change existing political equations in Karanataka.
8 January 2010 at 9:06 pm
great questions, churumuri.
my response: “all of the above.”
8 January 2010 at 11:46 pm
Why can’t Mittal buy land from open market? These government schemes redistribute wealth from common man to business man. Government offers Rs 10 Lakh for the land that costs Rs 3 Crore.
9 January 2010 at 6:48 pm
Why can’t Mittal buy land from open market?
The same reason Infosys want from govt, cheap.
9 January 2010 at 7:10 pm
Call that guy’s bluff. Send him packing.
I don’t like when somebody waves money in my face and says I am a loser not to grab it.
We should be playing by our rules on our land. Too bad if land acquisition takes several years – people are losing their homes and it is their democratic right to ensure that land is acquired for a public purpose.
Remember he is not the only investor. There are more from where he came from.
10 January 2010 at 11:59 am
“The Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) has fixed a mere Rs 88,048 per acre for acquiring our land whereas the current market value for an acre is not less than Rs two crore. Can you expect anyone to part with their lands for such a meagre sum?” said Bettaiah of Gonipura village on Saturday.
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/45970/farmers-protest-intensifies.html
10 January 2010 at 3:26 pm
@khan
Thank you. The farmers have a point. KIADB should be pulled up and made to reevaluate land value.
11 January 2010 at 9:05 am
Mittal should hire Bangalore big IT companies to act as the land grabbers for him. If anyone can help him with the land grabbing it is these guys who have perfected it to the fine art.
28 March 2010 at 5:06 pm
Mittal should acquire the land as soon as possible …..i ask all people to co-operate with him… a set a integrated steel plant at the earliest..
make Bellary region a Steel City..with well furnished roads and other amendments…