The Orissa government seems to have landed in an embarrassing spot in connection with the submission of report to the Union ministry of environment & forests (MoEF) on the issue of compliance with Forest Rights Act (FRA) at the Posco site. Though the state government had exuded confidence to send the report to the ministry before the end of February, claimants of FRA at the project site appeared to have played...

The Orissa government will submit its report to the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) on the issue of compliance with Forest Rights Act at the Posco site before the end of this month. “We will definitely submit the report to the MoEF before the end of this month. The SC & ST department has already reviewed the report which is currently under the scrutiny of the state forest &...

The Environment Ministry's clearance of projects such as Posco, Jaitapur and Lavasa will cause havoc in our gravely endangered environment. EVEN the worst pessimist could not have imagined that the January 31 order of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) approving the South Korean-origin company Posco's steel project in Orissa would be as bad as it actually is. Construction of the Rs.54,000-crore steel plant, its captive power unit and private...

Clearing a protracted uncertainty over India’s largest-ever foreign direct investment, the Union Environment Ministry today gave its approval to South Korean steel major POSCO’s proposed iron and steel plant in Orissa. In an order today, the Ministry gave environmental clearance for the construction of a 12-million tonne per annum capacity iron and steel plant (4 million tonnes in first phase) and a captive power plant at Jagatsinghpur district of Orissa. It also...

Both Posco and the Orissa government said there were no tribals on the land for Posco’s 12 mn tonne steel plant. The presence of 21 tribals in the voters list has hit their credibility and probably the plant as well A 4-member environment ministry committee has recommended that the environmental clearances given to Posco be revoked for the violation of existing laws, for serious lapses and suppression of facts. As always,...