Mr Raghunath Mohanty steel and mines minister on Friday inaugurated the Enterprise 2011 organised by the Odisha Chapter of the Confederation of Indian Industry and warned the industries to strictly adhere to the employment conditions for locals mentioned in the MoUs signed by them with the state government.

The state government has stipulated that 90% of the unskilled and semi skilled jobs, 60% of the skilled jobs and 30% of the managerial and supervisory jobs must be filled up by local candidates.

Industries Secretary Mr T Ramchandru spoke on his pet theme of downstream industries, the MSME sector and getting prepared for life after the state's mineral resources gets exhausted. He frowned upon the practice of the industries to use firms outside the state for large contracts and urged them to give the opportunity to local entrepreneurs. He urged the CII to help the Government in its effort to persuade the Central Government for a National Manufacturing Zone in the State in the next round.

Chairman of CII's Eastern Region Mr Ranaveer Sinha described the exhibition as an ideal platform to showcase the strengths and potential of Odisha. CII Odisha Chairman BL Bagra, in his welcome address, pointed out that the theme of this 16th edition of the annual Industrial and Consumer Fair of CII is Business for Livelihood which is having 75 exhibitors. He said a skill development centre at Angul for mining sector is soon to be set up.

A District Development Plan for Balangir was released at the meeting. Awards for Environment, Security Health and Industrial Relations were handed over to winners. In the ESH category, Hindalco, Mahanadi Coalfields and NTPC took the first, second and third prizes, respectively. In the IR category, the winners were Balasore Alloys, JK Paper and Essel Mining in that order.

(Sourced from www.dailypioneer.com)