Panel?s thumbs down could spell end of road for Posco in Orissa

Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik said on Monday he will need time to study the adverse environment report on Posco, the second marque industrial project that may have to be shelved in less than three months in the state after Vedanta?s Niyamgiri.

A four-member committee set up by the union environment ministry has called for cancelling the forest, environment and coastal regulatory zone clearances given to Posco-India?s 12-million tonne steel project and captive port in Orissa. The committee chairperson Meena Gupta has, however, advocated a softer line in her dissent note submitted to environment minister Jairam Ramesh. However, given the sensitivities, it might be the end of the road for the project, once cited as the flagship venture between the Orissa government and the South Korean company.

Patnaik told FE: ?We have no information about the Meena Gupta committee report. We will react to the report once we have studied it.? But sources close to his office said the chief minister discussed the report with chief secretary BKPatnaik, in his secretariat office till late on Monday night. While state steel & mines minister Raghunath Mohanty, is away in his constituency, secretary Manoj Ahuja is in Delhi.

State steel & mines and industries minister Raghunath Mohanty told FE they will wait till the union environment ministry takes a decision on the report.

The report could add grist to the ruling BJD?s claim that the UPA government has not supported the industrialisation in the state. Patnaik?s Biju Janata Dal has made this pitch after the environment ministry spiked Vedanta Resources? Rs 7,000-crore alumina project in Lanjigarh, citing dislocation for the tribals of Niyamgiri.

The Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS) fighting the project expressed happiness: ?The ministry should consider the majority view which has recommended that statutory clearances accorded to the project should be withdrawn immediately,? said PPSS chief Abhaya Sahu. However, the chief of pro-Posco United Action Committee Anadi Rout said the ministry should take the views of the committee chairperson into consideration. The majority of members of the Meena Gupta Committee are quite critical of the goings-on at the project sites. They have recommended that the forest, environment, and coastal zone clearances for the project and the captive port be withdrawn immediately. The committee is, however, unanimous that the state must follow the Forest Right Act procedures afresh.

Apart from Gupta, the committee includes Urmila Pingle, Devendra Pandey and V Suresh. Gupta, an Orissa cadre IAS officer who retired as environment secretary has called for a comprehensive environment impact assessment (EIA) of the steel project and the captive port project. She is, however, silent on whether the clearances should be withdrawn or not. The three members, however, recommended that the environment clearance for the steel plant and the CRZ and environment clearances for the port project be cancelled. ?The committee strongly feels that there have been many serious lapses and illegalities in the EIA process… The committee, therefore, strongly recommends that the environment clearance given by the MoEF dated 15.5.2007 for minor port and 19.7.2007 for the steel plant should be immediately revoked.? It also suggested that the final forest clearance accorded to the steel project be withdrawn immediately. ?The committee, therefore, feels that the final forest clearance dated 29.12.2009 of the MoEF overlooked serious violations of their own directions and the procedures prescribed by the law,? the committee said. ?The Committee, therefore, strongly recommends that the final forest clearance referred above be revoked forthwith.?

The three members also recommended that CRZ permission for the port be revoked, since ?there are a number of serious lapses and violations, including suppression of facts.? There is unanimity that the Forest Right Act (FRA) was not implemented properly at the project site. People?s claims were not recognised, the committee observed.

?The Orissa government must initiate implementation of the FRA process afresh in the project area in a transparent and democratic way?, observed the committee in one voice. The members are unanimous that the port project would have impact the coastal environment, particularly on the port town of Paradip. The Committee is also against drawing water from Mahanadi at Jobra for the steel project as its would have an adverse impact on the source of drinking water for the people living around. On the relief and rehabilitation (R&R) policy, the three members suggested that ?the R&R package should take into account the loss of livelihood, provide for land for land compensation, account for vulnerable sections including women, labourers and old people and decided upon through a transparent and democratic process.? The group also suggested that ?higher compensation should be for the paan plots(betel vines).? The committee chairperson observed in her individual report that the Posco project is different from that of the Vedanta?s alumina project as they operate in different environments and circumstances. While the Vednata?s alumina plant is in the located in the less developed western Orissa in a scheduled area home to two primitive tribal groups, the Posco project is located in a coastal district, in the more developed eastern part; the area is not a Scheduled Area and virtually has no scheduled tribe people, she pointed out.

The forest advisory committee which is meeting on October 25 will study the two reports and make a recommendation to the ministry on the issue of implementation of the Forests Act.