Nara Lokesh seeks early permission from Centre for ArcelorMittal plant

Says the plant proposed to be set up at Anakapalle will create large-scale job opportunities for youth in Andhra Pradesh

Amaravati/New Delhi: Andhra Pradesh Information Technology and Electronics Minister Nara Lokesh on Wednesday appealed to Union Heavy Industries and Steel Minister HD Kumaraswamy to give necessary permissions for ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel plant at the earliest.

Lokesh, who called on the Union Minister in Delhi, stated that large-scale employment opportunities will be created for the youth in Andhra Pradesh once the plant comes up at Anakapalle. He sought the cooperation of the Centre for early completion of the formalities for the plant.

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Lokesh, who is the son of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, also took the blessings of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gouda at Kumaraswamy’s residence and enquired about his health condition. Thanking Kumaraswamy profusely for releasing nearly Rs 12,000 crore for the revival of the Visakha Steel Plant, Lokesh said that the funds were released with a generous heart after realising the sentiments of the people of the state and the concern of thousands of workers of the unit.

He also thanked Kumaraswamy for personally visiting the steel plant to have first-hand information on the problems being faced by the workers besides initiating steps to increase productivity. Earlier, Lokesh called on Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and urged him to sanction a defence cluster for Andhra Pradesh. He sought the Centre’s cooperation to establish some units in the state against the backdrop of huge investments in the defence sector.

Lokesh intimated Rajnath Singh of the development activities undertaken after the TDP-led NDA came to power in the state. Informing the Union Minister that the State is being brought on track which was in chaos due to the faulty policies adopted by the previous government, he briefed him on how the works in the capital city of Amaravati and Polavaram are moving on a progressive path with the Centre’s cooperation.

He also thanked Rajnath Singh for the Central assistance and said that the Union government is helping the state to come out of the crisis created by the previous government which pushed the state into Rs 10 lakh crore debt. The minister also said that the TDP-led NDA government is working hard to take the state towards a developmental path in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of Viksit Bharat. Union Ministers Ram Mohan Naidu and Srinivasa Varma, and the party MPs were present.