JSW Bengal Steel said that it is going ahead with its project in West Midnapore district of West Bengal, a hotbed of Maoist activities.

Mr Biswadip Gupta MD of JSW Steel said that "Our project got delayed by one year due to the global economic meltdown, but now we have again started work in the project site and the work on boundary wall has progressed to quite some extent.”

Mr Gupta said that "We had been working in that site for almost three years now. Till date we never had any problem. He said at least 12 to 15 company workers are there at the site along with 500 to 600 contractual workers.

About the company's plans to draw water supply from the Rupnarayan River, Mr Gupta said that "Work has begun. It will be a 67 kilometer line, which would supply water in the project area and the investment will be INR 300 crore. This is the lifeline of the project and unless this is done, banks won't give funds. We plan to go for ground breaking in October.”

JSW Bengal Steel is setting up a 10 million tonne steel plant at Salboni in the district. JSW Bengal Steel is promoted by Sajjan Jindal led JSW Steel, which holds 89 percent of the equity capital. The state government owns the balance 11%

(Sourced from PTI)