The Forest Advisory Committee of the Union environment and forests decided on Monday to not lift the temporary stay order on the Forest Clearance for Posco's Integrated Steel Project at Orissa. This would imply continued stay on all activities at the Posco site. After a lengthy hearing with the state government officials present, the FAC decided to refer the possible violations of the Forest Rights Act to the Union ministry of...

The 3-1 conclusion of the POSCO panel that all clearances to the Rs 50,000-crore project be scrapped should haven’t come as a surprise to at least one person: Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh. The panel’s report now wends its way through the Ministry’s official expert committees. For, Ramesh had handpicked these members and each of the three who opposed the project has, in the past, taken clearly stated positions on infrastructure projects,...

In a bid to build up pressure before the meeting of the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) to decide the fate of Posco’s mega steel plant in Orissa, those opposed to it stepped up the momentum. Project opponents, led by Posco Pratirodha Sangram Samiti (PPSS), the organization spearheading the agitation against the South Korean company, held a massive rally and protest meeting yesterday at Balitutha, entry point to the project site. People...

The Orissa government on Monday strongly rebutted the findings of the four-member committee that recently submitted its report on POSCO’s proposed iron and steel plant in the state, saying all due processes had been followed and that there had been no violations of any legal provisions. Senior officers of the Orissa government, including Revenue Divisional Commissioner Pradipto Kumar Mohapatra and Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) Priyanath Padhi, appeared before the...

As POSCO hits green roadblocks, the mega project seems doomed THE ODISHA government is trying hard not to sound defensive, after the Meena Gupta Committee report pulled it up for violating the local people’s forest rights while giving the nod to POSCO for setting up its proposed $12 billion steel plant. Earlier, a joint committee of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) had reached the same conclusion, and reported several...