The expert committee’s visit to Odisha on Tuesday to reassess the ecological impact of the Posco steel project lasted only for one hour and covered only selective sites, green activists have alleged.
The review team, set up by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), did not visit the key site of Dhinkia Panchayat, spread over 2,000 acres, or the proposed port site at the mouth of river Jatadhari, Prashant Paikary, spokesperson, Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti, said in a statement here on Wednesday.
He quoted media reports saying that the committee “selectively saw sites and met people guided by the district administration — all within an hour.”
“Without visiting such key sites and taking the opinion of the key people, the report can only be eyewash, he added.
Paikary also said no prior information about the committee’s visit was given to the people likely to be affected by the proposed project, even as the State administrative apparatus was fully aware of it.
He said a proper assessment can only be done by an impartially chosen committee which visits all the key sites and meets all stakeholders, as proposed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) order.
The review committee, hand-picked by the Ministry, visited the State on Tuesday with the mandate to re-assess the ecological impact of the $12-billion Posco steel project, said to be the biggest foreign investment in the country. The team was set up after the NGT suspended environment clearance to the project following local protests.