ArcelorMittal, was on Friday pulled up by the Orissa government for the inordinate delay in its proposed projects in the state. The world’s largest steel maker had proposed to set up a 12 MTPA capacity Greenfield steel plant in Keonjhar district in the state at an investment of Rs 40,000 crore. The company is yet to conduct a socio-economic survey in the area to identify the people who are going to be displaced due to the mega project. “The company is yet to submit the Detailed Project Report and the Environment Impact Assessment,” said an industry department note. Of the proposed investment of Rs 40,000 crore, the company was found to have invested only Rs 25 crore. The government pulled up ArcelorMittal officials, questioning its “actual intentions”.

A high-level review, conducted by state industries and steel and mines minister Raghunath Mohanty and two senior bureaucrats, has revealed that of 14 mega-industrial projects that have been in the pipeline for the past 3-4 years, barring a handful, almost every project has missed its deadline.

Korean steel major Posco has acquired a mere 506 acres of the required 6,000 acres for its proposed 12 MT steel plant in Orissa’s Jagatsinghpur district. Tata Steel and Sterlite — allocated 3,040 and 3,400 acres respectively — have not taken possession of a single inch of land. Only Vedanta Alumina Refinery at Lanjigarh and Jindal and Steel Power Limited at Angul were found to have completed their projects.