The Union ministry of steel and the Odisha government on Friday agreed to thrash out issues pertaining to forest clearance and land acquisition, the two major bottlenecks impeding the progress of major steel projects proposed in the state.
"Land acquisition and forest clearance have emerged as two major bottlenecks for steel projects in Odisha. These issues figured in our talks. We discussed on overcoming the hurdles for steel projects”, D B Singh, director, Union ministry of steel told the media after holding talks with Odisha chief secretary B K Patnaik and other top state officials.
He clarified that no company specific issue was discussed at the meeting.
"The discussions broadly centred on forest clearance and land acquisition for steel projects. There were no discussions on individual steel companies”, said Patnaik.
Steel makers both in public and private sector were awaiting action from the state government on a host of issues ranging from clearance for mines and allotment of new mines to acquisition of land for proposed steel projects.
Maharatna PSU SAIL is awaiting Stage-II forest clearance for its Bolani iron ore mines in Odisha's Keonjhar district. This mine produces 13,000 tonnes of iron ore per day.
SAIL has complied with all the conditions for grant of Stage-II forest clearance and submitted compliance report to the divisional forest officer-Keonjhar on May 24, 2012. The detailed compliance on conditions could not be processed as yet for want of site specific conservation plan which is pending with the principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife) and chief wildlife warden in view of non-finalization of the Karo-Karampada elephant corridor reportedly passing through the mining lease area.The steel maker has requested the state forest department to recommend its Stage-II forest clearance proposal to the Union ministry of environment & forests (MoEF).SAIL has also pointed out the anomaly in levy of royalty on iron ore by the state government. The steel PSU pointed out that since the state government is charging royalty on fines at lump rate since August 2009, the company's Bolani and Barsuan mines are suffering an additional financial burden of Rs 9.80 crore per month.Meanwhile, Posco India has sought early resumption of land acquisition activity for its 12 million tonne per annum greenfield steel plant proposed near Paradeep. Land acquisition for the mega project has been stalled since June 2011 despite continuous discussions and strong support of the Odisha government. Moreover, the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed with Posco India has expired in June 2010 and the revised pact is pending for government approval.Another Central PSU-Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL) has evinced interest to set up a steel mill, beneficiation and pelletization plants in Odisha at a total investment of Rs 2000-2500 crore on allotment of iron ore mines.
