By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR/ROURKELA: Union PNG-Steel Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has expressed his displeasure over inordinate delay in completing projects under Rourkela Smart City.
The Union Minister on Thursday sent a missive to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and State Urban Development Minister to look into the matter.
Pradhan said in his missive that that Government of India and Government of Odisha have sanctioned Rs 376 crore (Rs 188 crore each) to RSL from 2015-16 to 2017-18, but only Rs 22.23 crore has been expended.
“Four years gone, nothing has happened and I would like to request you to look into the issue and do the needful,” Pradhan said in his letter.
Meanwhile, Pradhan also expressed concerns over the closure and merger of Odisha’s Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) with the east zone office in Kolkata, asserting that it will have a ‘drastic impact on production and export’
In a letter to Union commerce minister Piyush Goyal, Pradhan said that the merger would ‘jeopardise’ the ease of doing business for exporters who will now have to travel to Kolkata to get clearance and processing
He sought Goyal’s ‘personal intervention’ in the matter, keeping in mind the developmental needs of the state as an ‘export hub’
