Orissa to reply to Centre's queries on Posco panel report

Orissa government will reply to the queries made by the Centre on the Meena Gupta panel report on Posco project in next three days, Chief Secretary B K Patnaik said today.

"We will reply to the Centre on the Gupta panel reports within three days," Patnaik told reporters here.

The state government did not comment on the reports of the committee for past two days.

The government has examined views expressed by different members of the central panel set up by the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF), the senior official said.

"The Centre had sought certain clarifications after getting the reports of the committee and officials of forest department are now examining different aspects of the issue," the chief secretary said.

Union Environment minister Jairam Ramesh in a letter to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik yesterday sought state's views on the Gupta panel report.

The chief minister said yesterday that his government will study the report.

The majority view in the four-member panel was that the environmental clearances to the Posco steel plant and a captive port can be scrapped forthwith but the leader of the team felt otherwise.