The Orissa government today decided to resume land acquisition for Posco’s 12-million-tonne steel plant project from May 18, having got the final nod from the environment ministry. “The Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation and Jagatsinghpur district administration will jointly take up land acquisition work from May 18,” Priyabrata Patnaik, the nodal officer for the Posco project, said today. The Union environment ministry on May 2 granted final approval for the diversion of 1,253...

In an effort to wean away tribals from the Maoists, the Environment Ministry is pushing for a minimum support price for minor forest produce like bamboo and tendu patta. Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh is taking up the matter with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee . A minimum support price (MSP) for minor forest produce (MFP) would help increase the earnings of the tribal population. At present, the more valuable items of minor forest...

Forest Minister Filipe Neri Rodrigues assured the State Legislative assembly that all the proposals to divert the forest land for mining purpose would be put on hold and the officers would be instructed not to process any such proposals Cornered by Leader of Opposition Manohar Parrikar and Aldona MLA Dayanand Narvekar over diversion of forest land for mining, Rodrigues said that the officers would be strictly told not to send any...

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...

Though a month has elapsed since the Centre accorded conditional clearance to the Posco project, Orissa government finds it tough to submit its assurance to the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) on proper implementation of the Forest Rights Act , 2006. While giving conditional clearance to the Rs 52,000 crore project on January 31, the Centre had sought written assurance from the state government on the implementation of the...