The Centre may set up an inter-ministerial group (IMG) for suggesting ways to fast-track clearance for South Korean steel major Posco’s $12-billion investment plans in Odisha, which are mired in land and environment controversies.
“The Government may set up an inter-ministerial group to sort out environment and other clearance problems that Posco is facing. The Prime Minister’s Office will take a call on this,” a senior Commerce Department official told Business Line .
The proposed IMG would take a re-look at the need for a fresh environment impact analysis for the project called for by the National Green Tribunal last year for the entire 12 million tonne per annum (mtpa) capacity and examine the possibility of re-validating lapsed clearances, the official added.
The Odisha Government re-started its land acquisition drive for Posco’s proposed project in Gobindpur, near Paradip, early Sunday morning under heavy presence of armed police forces. The proposal to set up the plant had been put on the backburner for over a year, after clashes had erupted between villagers and police officials.
“Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma plans to speak to Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to discuss the State’s plans for helping the stuck project,” the official said.
Sharma had announced last week in Agra that the Centre would carry out a fresh review for Posco’s project in Odisha, which is languishing since 2005. The announcement was made to appease his South Korean counterpart Sukwoo Hong who said that the future of Indo-Korean trade relations depended much on how the project progressed.
Last March, the National Green Tribunal had quashed the environmental clearance granted to Posco in 2011 as it said that the environment impact assessment report for the project was faulty and a fresh one was needed. The report was based on a production capacity of just 4 mtpa steel per annum instead of the actual proposed capacity of 12 mtpa.
“One way to get around the problem would be to lower the proposed production capacity which the company is already contemplating,” the official said.
Protests continue
Land acquisition would, however, remain a big problem for the State. While officials claim that the acquisition has been started only after villagers voluntarily agreed, POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS) spokespersons claimed the villagers, who are dependent on the land for livelihood, did not want the steelmaker in the area.
PPSS spokesperson Prashant Paikary said the protests would continue till the police forces withdrew and the State halted its acquisition plans. He said the local residents were dependent on the agricultural land and were engaged in paddy farming, fishing and betel vine cultivation. The last activity was dependent on the forests in the area, and any acquisition would severely affect the residents, he added.
Of the 4,000 acres that is proposed to be acquired for the steel plant, almost 3,000 acres comprise forest land, Parikary claimed.
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