SAIL hasn't approved site for steel processing unit: Minister

Himachal Pradesh Industries Minister Krishan Kapoor on Monday told the Assembly that the land selected for setting up a steel processing unit in Mandi was rejected by Steel Authority of India (SAIL) on technical grounds.

Replying to a question of Parkash Chaudhary (Congress) during the Question Hour, Kapoor said the state government had identified land for the unit at one place in Mandi district but in 2010 SAIL rejected the site on technical grounds.

The state government had later identified land for the proposed unit at some other location in the district but SAIL has not so far reverted back to the government, he added.

The minister said the state government was not responsible for any delay and on the contrary it was the Centre which did not respond.

In reply to another question, Food and Civil Supplies minister Ramesh Dhawala said the government was contemplating suspending the 3 lakh LPG connections which are not active for quite sometime.

Replying to a question of Vipin Parmar (BJP), the minister said that out of the total 13, 84, 693 LPG customers, over three lakh customers were not using their gas connections actively for past many years.

He said there were 6,70,955 Double Bottle Cylinder (DBC) connections and 6, 76, 333 single cylinder connections in the state.

There are 117 LPG agencies, including 65, in the private sector to serve the consumers, he said.

Dhawala said there were reports of use of domestic LPG cylinders for commercial purposes and the government was doing its bit to check it.

Referring to shortage of LPG in the state, he said that against the normal requirement of 2123 gas loads (each gas load has 306 cylinders), the state is getting only 1762 gas loads.

Replying to a question, Transport Minister Mahender Singh Thakur said there was a shortage of parking facilities in the state and the government is constructing parking places across the state through different departments, including Urban Development, Tourism, PWD and Himachal Roads Transport Corporation.

"As many as 105 parkings have been completed, 82 are under construction and 69 are proposed", he said.

In reply to another question of Sohan Lal (Congress), the Transport Minister said the union government had sanctioned Rs 54.74 crore on the basis of Detailed Project Report (DPR) for sewage facility in Shimla town, including newly-merged area in Municipal Corporation under the Jawahar Lal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission and the work is in progress.