Odisha to review Posco plant status this week

MoEF team skips meeting people at project site

The Odisha government has decided to review the status of the Posco steel project towards the end of this week, even as an expert team of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) visited the proposed plant site on Tuesday.

“We will review all mega steel investment projects on August 25 including the Posco plant. We have acquired all litigation free land in the area and will discuss about acquiring more land from disputed site,” said Rajnikant Singh, minister of state for steel and mines.

The state government last week decided to resume the land acquisition process for Posco steel project, which was stalled indefinitely in June last year following stiff protest by the villagers and Left party leaders.

The expert panel formed by the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) visited the proposed plant site on Tuesday in pursuance to the directions of National Green Tribunal (NGT).

NGT, while suspending the environmental clearance of the project in March this year, had wanted an expert team to visit the site to assess the impact of the project on the local environment afresh.

However, during the tour of the project site, the team members did not interact with villagers of Gobindpur, Nuagaon , Noliashai and Gadkujang and also avoided visiting Dhinkia village, the epicenter of anti-Posco agitation.

When pointed out about these omissions, the team leader K. Roy Paul said, “We are not here to conduct any public enquiry. We have come here to see in our own eyes the condition of the land, the geography of land and the type of land”.

He added, “this team has come to Posco site to assess the situation and review environmental related issues after getting directive from NGT. We have received specific issues from the villagers who desired to air their grievances. Our report would be submitted to MoEF after discussing with higher officials”.

The mandate of the high-level expert committee is to study the impact of forest diversion and cutting of large number of trees for establishment of the Posco's steel plant on the coastal area and local environment.

The coastal villagers had earlier expressed concerns that nearly one lakh casurina trees, which acted as natural barrier to tidal waves, were pulled down last year during land acquisition of Posco project. They pointed out that in the absence of any barrier their villages would be affected during rainy season.

Besides investigating the impact of Posco's proposed steel plant on surrounding environment, the team also studied the environmental impact for proposed captive port of Posco at Jatadhari river mouth.