Environment and forests minister Jairam Ramesh has said he is ?uncertain? about the fate of the proposed $12-billion Posco steel plant in Orissa which is hanging fire due to the repeal of environmental and forest clearances. Speaking to FE, he, however, sought to differentiate between the Korean major?s project and Vedanta?s bauxite mining venture in the Niyamgiri hills that was given a thumbs down by his ministry.
?Vedanta was largely a tribal livelihood issue while Posco is not fundamentally a forest rights issue,? he said, adding that a decision on Posco?s project would be taken in 2-3 weeks.
As of now, a decision on Posco will be based on how the relevant agencies ? the Forest Advisory Committee, Expert Appraisal Committee and Coastal Regulation Zone reports ? reconcile their views. Sources in the tribal affairs ministry overseeing the implementation of the Forest Rights Act have separately confirmed to FE that a team from the ministry would visit the site of the proposed integrated steel plant at Jagatsinghpur in Orissa to assess compliance with the provisions of the FRA.
Ramesh said the decision on Posco would be one of the toughest he has had to preside over ?since the expert panel on Posco itself is so deeply divided.?
The steel plant, which could see India?s largest foreign direct investment ever, has been encountering rough weather ever since an environmental clearance given to it in 2008 was scrapped for not having followed the correct procedure. The Meena Gupta Committee, which examined the FRA compliance of the project, could not take a conclusive view on the matter with Gupta writing a dissent note saying the clearance should be upheld and three other members ? Urmila Pingle, V Suresh and Devendra Pandey ? recommending that the clearance given earlier be scrapped.
?Whatever decision I take will be controversial. If the recommendation is not to give clearance, industry will say I am against them. If the clearance is granted, then environmentalists will allege that I have been sold out to industry,? Ramesh said.
He added the process of arriving at a decision on the project would be put forth in the public domain. ?I believe in putting all my decisions in the public domain so that the people can judge the fairness or unfairness of it,? he said.
Posco?s ambitious project, for which an MoU was signed with the Orissa government as early as 2005, has been unable to move forward due to a host of problems. Apart from environmental issues, the company has also been facing resistance from the local population. The Korean government has, however, lent its full support to the project, and during his visit to India during Republic Day celebrations this year, the Korean President discussed the fate of the project with the Indian government.