Bhubaneswar: Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan has urged the Centre to take up industrial corridor in Odisha along with Vishakhapatanam-Chennai industrial corridor (VCIC).

“I strongly suggest that planning and implementation of the industrial corridor in Odisha must begin in right earnest.

It would complement Prime Minister’s vision for development of Eastern India,” Pradhan wrote to Union Minister of State for Commerce and industry Nirmala Sitharaman. Stating that the Centre has conceived development of various industrial corridor projects for promoting manufacturing and industrial development in the country, Pradhan said some of these are under implementation and others in planning stage. “Given the rich mineral resources and huge availability of manpower in Odisha, such industrial corridor project in the state is highly necessary to create state of the art infrastructure in the state to help realise its economic potential,” Pradhan said in the letter. He said the industrial corridor be simultaneously taken up with VCIC which is envisaged to be developed in the first phase of the East Coast Economic Corridor, linking Kolkata, Chennai and Tuticorin. Odisha has well developed National Highways, Pradhan said, adding that in the railway budget of 2016-17, two dedicated freight corridors has been announced which would be passing through Odisha. “The planning of the industrial corridor can be synchronized with the existing and upcoming infrastructure,” he said. — PTI