Work on Posco's 12-million-tonnes-a-year plant in Orissa is likely to be delayed further.

This follows the Ministry of Environment and Forest's decision to put on hold the forest clearance to the project, for now.

The Ministry's decision comes in the wake of representation by the Posco Prathirodh Sangram Committee, which said that the Palli Sabha (village committee) Resolutions of at least two villages were not considered by the State before sending its report.

In its assurance report submitted to the Ministry on Wednesday, the Orissa Government had maintained that there were no tribals or any other forest dwellers living at the proposed plant site villages.

“After receiving information from the State Government that the appropriate authority has completed the process of recognition and verification procedure for all the villages from where the forest land is to be transferred for non-forestry purposes, a final decision regarding clearance will be taken,” the Environment Minister, Mr Jairam Ramesh, said.

“Ignoring these two Palli Sabha Resolutions and not allowing them to be subjected to a due process of law as enshrined in the Forest Rights Act, 2006 would be tantamount, in my considered opinion, to violating the very essence of this legislation,” Mr Ramesh said.

At the time of according conditional environmental clearance to Posco project on January 31, Mr Ramesh had sought a categorical assurance from the State Government that the provisions of the Forest Rights Act (FRA) 2006 were not violated in the proposed plant site village.

Though the project had received the environmental clearance, it required the forest clearance from the MoEF as 2,900 acres of the totally required 4,004 acres of land was forest land.

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