Union chemicals and fertilizers minister Ananth Kumar on Friday announced that fertilizer plants would be set up in Jabalpur and Jhabua with capacities to produce 26 lakh tonnes urea worth Rs 11,000 crore.
The minister was in Tamot village to lay the foundation stone of a plastics park jointly being set up by the Union ministry of chemicals and fertilizers and the state industries department.
Speaking on the occasion, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, in whose parliamentary constituency the park lies, said the units would cater to the needs of the industry.
Also in attendance, chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said the units at the plastics park will generate 1.5 lakh jobs in the coming years.
Union minister Ananth Kumar said the units will produce plastics worth Rs 775 crore, in addition to 4 crore tonnes of gunny.
Union minister Sushma Swaraj said of the four states where the Union chemicals and fertilizer ministry has sanctioned plastics parks, Madhya Pradesh is the first state to hold the foundation stone laying ceremony.
The local forest unit has claimed that the 96 hectares of land included in the plastics park plan is a reserve forest land, and any industrial use of the same required clearance from the Union ministry of environment and forests.
{{/usCountry}}The local forest unit has claimed that the 96 hectares of land included in the plastics park plan is a reserve forest land, and any industrial use of the same required clearance from the Union ministry of environment and forests.
{{/usCountry}}However, district magistrate (DM) of Raisen said, on the basis of revenue records, the land was never transferred to the forest department and hence is under the possession of the revenue department. Therefore, the proposed plastics unit required no environmental clearance.
The DM's ruling has been disputed and appealed in the court of the divisional commissioner, where the matter is pending.