Odisha not right place for business, says BJP

Bhubaneswar: The BJP has accused the state government of misleading people by making false claims on the business climate and business opportunities in the state.
After Odisha’s rank dropped in the “ease of doing business” list, the BJP targeted the Chief Minister and said he and his administration were solely responsible for the decline in the investment climate of the state.
Addressing a press conference Tuesday, Odisha BJP secretary Lekhasri Samantsinghar said, “The government is claiming that it is offering single window clearance and has created a conducive environment for investors but Odisha’s rank in the Ease of Doing Business list has dropped from 7 to 14 in the last three years which proves that the government has failed to create an investment-friendly atmosphere. The manufacturing sector and MSME investments have declined.”
She added that out of the 92 Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) signed by the government, only 46 have become operational. Altogether 28 companies have closed and 15 have suffered a loss of over Rs 500 crore.
She also said the government was now trying to shut down the Indian Metals & Ferro Alloys (IMFA) after companies like Posco and Arcelor Mittal backed out of their projects in the state as the government was unable to provide basic things like land, electricity and water.
Reacting to this, BJD spokesperson Sasmit Patra said, “We top marine exports. There has been a 300 per cent increase in IT exports, 50 per cent in stainless steel, 25 per cent in iron and steel and 60 per cent in aluminium production in Odisha. I am not sure why the BJP is unable to see these achievements of the Naveen government. In 2016 Odisha government got an investment proposal of Rs 3.64 lakh crore under the Make in Odisha project and around Rs 2 lakh crore of investment has been accepted and executed successfully. Moreover, Odisha bagged the ‘Champion state’ award as far as exports are concerned from the Centre.”
Patra said the BJP was conducting false propaganda against the government. He added that it was really unfortunate that when the Centre was appreciating Odisha in the field of exports, the state BJP is accusing the state government of failure.