Protests may hold up forest clearance for Posco's Orissa project

The final forest clearance for the South Korean steel-maker Posco's integrated steel plant may be held up with protests and violence in Jagatsinghpur having cast a shadow on the Orissa government's claim of settling forest rights.

The government had claimed settling forests rights was not a moot issue as there were no forest dwellers in the designated project area.

The environment and forest ministry had on 15 April asked the state government to furnish English translation of the proceedings of the settlement rights which is the basis of the claim. With the state government yet to furnish it, the environment ministry may be required to revisit the approval for forest land diversion it granted the project in December 2009.

In its communication to the environment ministry on 16 March, the state government had claimed there were no tribals, either cultivating or residing in the forest area which formed part of the land designated for the Posco project and also added that no other traditional forest dweller had cultivated forest land for three generations of the last 75 years.

According to environment and forests minister Jairam Ramesh the project had received ''in-principle'' approval. It had received a conditional clearance under the Forest Conservation Act last December however environmental clearances under the Environment Protection Act were pending.

The ministry had in December last year granted approval for diversion of around 1,254 hectares of forest land in Orissa for the Posco project, subject to certain conditions being met. The clearance, given under the Forest Conservation Act, was subject to the project getting environmental clearance.