Odisha official says locals supported Tata Steel's Joda expansion.

Tata Steel's project to expand its ferromanganese plant at Joda in Odisha has got the support of locals at a public hearing held by the state pollution control board recently, a government official said.

The company proposes to expand capacity of the plant to 60,000 tonnes a year from 50400 tonnes with an investment of Rs. 185.5 crore. Ferromanganese is used in steelmaking to improve the strength and toughness of the product.

Joda, a block of Keonjhar district which borders Jharkhand, is home to some of the country's best iron and manganese resources, and much of the steelmaker's domestic raw-material requirement comes from its captive mines there.

'Yes there was nearly unanimous support for the plant. Of the 84 people who spoke at the hearing, except for two-three people, everyone else was in support of the expansion,' Additional Collector Keonjhar Sangram Keshari Swain told ET. Some 4,000-5,000 people attended the hearing.

ET