MoEF to review Odisha cases this month: Javadekar
Says the govt will formulate an action plan for Odisha
 "MoEF to review Odisha cases this month: Javadekar")
“We are reviewing pending forest and environment cases of each state separately and review for Odisha cases will be completed this month. Thereafter, we will formulate an action plan for Odisha,” he said here at the state headquarter of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today.
The pending applications will be cleared based on the carrying capacity of the state, he added.
Also Read
The central minister was here for a one-day trip to oversee the selection process for BJP legislative party leader. He also met with state officials over forest clearance issues after visiting party’s state unit headquarter.
Javadekar, however, said, there was no effort by the state government to expedite the forest clearance applications. “There is so much pending cases of forest clearances from the tenure of previous government that many chief ministers are visiting us for projects in their states, but no one from Odisha government has come to us. However, we will process every application based on merit,” he said. Lack of requisite forest and environment approvals is a major impediment in the progress of many projects including mining, a key contributor to revenue collection in Odisha. Due to want to this statutory clearance, the Supreme Court in May this year banned mining at 26 sites. The state government, however, has allowed operation at eight mines by using special provisions and has asked the miners to obtain the necessary clearances before September.
Though the forest and environment clearance, which is a must for renewal of mining leases, normally takes more than three years, in some cases the applications have been pending for more than 10 years.
To expedite the process of forest clearance for Daitari mines, one of the biggest iron ore leases of Odisha Mining Corporation, representatives of steel industry and Kalinganagar Industrial Association met Javadekar today. The application has been pending since last year.
Towards the fag end of United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, the MoEF had cleared several dozen proposals including stage-I clearance for Daitari and Dhamra port expansion. Javadekar said, he is yet to see the files cleared by the previous minister and would probably review the decisions.
“I have not the seen the files (cleared by previous government). Will comment (about reviewing them) only after I see them,” he said.
Odisha has been protesting the approval granted by the Centre to Polavaram dam in Andhra Pradesh citing displacement issues in the catchment area coming under its jurisdiction. The Union minister today said, the construction would start only after rehabilitation issues are sorted out.
“Our government is committed to justified and complete rehabilitation of people before the construction of dams. This applies to all projects in all states,” he said.