South Korean steel major Posco’s troubles are likely to continue till the near future, as a high-level committee of the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) has sought a comprehensive assessment of the environmental impact encompassing all the components of the project — steel plant, captive power plant, port and infrastructure. The Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) is slated to meet next week to review approval given to the port. The EAC at...

The Expert Appraisal Committee of the Union ministry of environment & forests will submit its report soon to the ministry on the Posco project after scrutinizing the Comprehensive Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) submitted by the company. "The EAC would submit its report soon to the MOEF after scrutinizing the Comprehensive EIA submitted by Posco India. The EAC met yesterday for over three hours and there we reiterated our stand on issues...

The Navi Mumbai airport has finally got the green signal, with a compromise being worked out after one and a half years of tussling between the Environment Ministry on the one hand, and the Civil Aviation Ministry and the Maharashtra government on the other. The decision was announced jointly on Monday by Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, his Civil Aviation counterpart Praful Patel and the new Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan. While the...

In the latest setback to Posco's Rs. 54,000-crore integrated steel plant in Orissa, an Environment Ministry panel has recommended that its forest clearance be rejected. After dithering for almost four weeks after discussing the Posco proposal at its October 25 meeting, the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) has finally made up its mind to reject the clearance due to violations of the Forest Rights Act (FRA), listed by the Mena Gupta and...

Union Rural Development Minister C.P. Joshi on Friday maintained that the Centre was set to increase the wage rate paid under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS), but it was for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to address the issues raised by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. Dr. Joshi said it was not for him to react to the recommendation made to Dr. Singh by Ms. Gandhi — in her...