Bhubaneswar, May 27 (IANS): Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) on Saturday made operational the largest integrated steel plant of Odisha with the commissioning of the country's largest blast furnace at Angul.

The Angul steel plant has been expanded from two million tonne per annum (MTPA) to six MTPA. With the commissioning of the blast furnace, JSPL became India's fourth largest steelmaker after JSW, SAIL and Tata Steel.

Inaugurating the state of the art six million tonnes per annum steel plant, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said it would provide direct employment to around 30,000 people and indirect employment to more than one lakh people.

Patnaik said the state government was committed to providing all support and facilitation to the steel industry and as a result, the state has added more than 16 MTPA steel making capacity since 2005.

"As India looks to reach a steel manufacturing capacity of 300 million tonnes by 2030, I am proud to note that more than 20 per cent of the country's steel shall continue to be produced in our state," said Patnaik.

"My vision is to create 30 lakh additional employment opportunities by 2025, and bring in prosperity for the people of the state. What we are witnessing today is yet another step towards realising that vision," said the Chief Minister.

JSPL Chairman Naveen Jindal said the plant was set up at an investment of about Rs 33,000 crore.

"It's a dream come true. This happiness cannot be expressed in words. This is the result of the hard work and dedication of thousands of people," said the JSPL chairman.

He said the commissioning of the plant would enable the company to overcome its loss in the aftermath of the coal block cancellation.

"JSPL would increase substantially with commissioning of the new blast furnace at Angul and the effort would be to make the company debt-free in the next five years," he added.