Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Mayi 31: Industry minister, K J George, strongly justified the decision of the state government to sell 3,667 acres of land at Ballari to Jindal South West (JSW) Steel. He argued that with this the government has implemented an agreement which had been entered into between the government and the company in 2006.

George said that the said company has provided employment to 25000 people. "Our state is industries-friendly. This also brings in revenue by way of taxes. In the interest of strengthening the financial status of the state, we are selling the land that was earlier given onl ease as per a decision that had been taken in the past," he clarified at a press conference held here on Thursday May 30.

He said that in 1971, 7,000 acres of land had been acquired for the steel industry. As the company was not established till 1995, the land was taken back by the government. Out of this, 3,000 acres was given to Vijayanagara Steel Factory in 1996 with the conditions that raw materials should come from Mysore Minerals. 2,000 aces was given o Jindal when Dharam Singh was the chief minister in 2005, and 1,667 acres of land was given on lease cum sale condition when H D Kumaraswamy was the chief minister in 2007. These decisions were taken for industrial development, he explained.

George noted that senior Congress leader, H K Patil, and state BJP president, B S Yeddyurappa, have expressed suspicion about this transaction. "We will send all the information to them," he stated.

In the meanwhile, H K Pail,who had earlier written to the chief minister, opposing the decision to sell land to JSW, wrote another latter on Thursday. He said in the latest letter that it would be wrong to give the land to Jindals as the issue of illegal mining has been mentioned in the Lokayukta report and issue has not yet been resolved.