Scrap Posco's forest clearance, says FAC

In yet another setback to the Rs54,000-crore Posco project, India's biggest FDI, the Forest Advisory Committee – a panel under the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) – has recommended scrapping of the forest clearance given to the project.

The FAC has claimed that it has found ample evidence of violations of the Forest Rights Act (FRA) at the Posco project site. The statutory body has made the recommendation for withdrawal of forest clearance in its assessment report submitted to the MoEF. The ministry is likely to take a decision on Posco on November 8.

The FAC’s recommendation follows similar observations by the Saxena committee and the three members of the Meena Gupta panel.

The report submitted by the three members of the Meena Gupta panel – Urmila Pingle, Devendra Pandey and V Suresh – had called for immediate revocation of the environmental clearance granted for the steel plant and captive port project. However, panel leader Meena Gupta, in a separate report, had opined that Posco be allowed to go ahead with the project subject to completion of a comprehensive environment impact assessment (EIA) and imposition of certain conditions.

These three members opposing Meena felt that there were serious lapses and illegalities in the EIA process. They held that the EIA prepared for the Posco project was a rapid EIA, based on one season data without taking into account all the components of the project like township, water, rail road and transport facilities.

The three members had said there was documentary as well as oral evidence to support the presence of Other Traditional Forest Dwellers at the Posco site. They also alleged that the Jagatsinghpur district administration had not been fair and democratic in implementing the FRA in the affected villages.