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Green tribunal scraps Posco's $12bn Odisha
project
Friday March 30, 2012 03:49:40 PM,
IANS
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New Delhi: The
National Green Tribunal (NGT) Friday suspended environment
clearance to South Korean steel major Posco's $12 billion project
in Odisha, the biggest foreign direct investment in the country.
Hearing the petition of Prafulla Samantray from the state, the
bench comprising Justice C.V. Ramulu and Devendra Kumar Agarwal,
asked the environment ministry to review the environment clearance
afresh accorded to it in January last year.
"The environment clearance granted on Jan 31, 2011 to the project
shall remain suspended till such review and appraisal is done by
the ministry," the order stated.
The order comes days after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's
assurance to South Korea that the government was taking
"proactive" steps to improve the business climate and move forward
with the Posco mega steel plant project in the state.
According to tribunal, the memorandum of understanding between the
state government and Posco states that the project is for
production of 12 million tonnes of steel per annum (MTPA) but the
environment impact assessment (EIA) report has been prepared only
for 4 MTPA steel production in the first phase.
"The EIA should assess it for the full capacity right from the
beginning," it said.
Asking the ministry to attach specific conditions which the
company would have to follow in a defined timeline, it also
directed for setting up a special committee to monitor compliance
to the environment clearance.
The bench also directed that Posco should generate its own source
of water instead of utilising the drinking water meant for Cuttack
city.
Posco requires 4,004 acres, mostly government land, for its
project. Of the land earmarked, 2,900 acres is forest land.
Thousands of villagers have been opposing the project, saying it
will displace them from their homelands and ruin their betel leaf
farms.
Posco and the state government, however, maintain the project will
bring prosperity and employment to the impoverished region.
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