Signal not yet green for Posco's iron ore project

The environmental clearance granted to Posco for its Orissa project does not mean that it can start digging up iron ore immediately - it will have to come back to the environment ministry yet again to seek forest and environment clearances for its mining operations once the mines are finally allocated to the Korean steel giant, point out reports.

Though the acquisition of land for the port and the steel plant can begin as soon as the Orissa government gives the assurance on Forest Rights Act, which the environment ministry has sought, its plans to dig and export iron ore are yet to be cleared.

The Orissa government had allocated the Khandadhar ore reserves in Sundergarh district to Posco, but another company laid claim to the ore and took the state government to court. The high court stayed the handover and Posco then moved the Supreme Court in the matter. The case is still pending a decision in the apex court.
 
But, even if the apex court decides in Posco's favour, the company will have to come back to the environment ministry to seek clearance under the Environment Protection Act and forest clearance under the Forest Conservation Act.

However, the Forest Rights Act that the UPA government helped Posco clear for the steel plant may not be so easily crossed in the case of the Khandadhar mines. Under the Act, all scheduled tribes and other forest dwellers need to be handed back rights in forestlands they have traditionally used. The rights have to be bought off by the state government before handing the forest patches to projects.
 
But union environment minister Jairam Ramesh drew separate benchmarks for scheduled tribe populations and the rest and ignored his own ministry's regulations to allow Posco to get the land, purely on assurances of the state government.

N C Saxena, a member of the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council, too agrees that the environment ministry's order should not be read as a clearance. Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Saxena said the Orissa government should recognise the rights of the people. The Orissa government's rehabilitation package is very weak, he said. He, however, added that the package was not the concern of the ministry of environment and forests but of the state government.

At the Khandadhar mines, the story would not be the same with tribal populations inhabiting and using the forests in the region. The state government will have to settle the rights of the tribals inhabiting the iron-rich hills. Complicating its task further, the state government will have to secure clearances from the village councils in the area and submit them to the environment ministry.

Legally, the ministry is permitted to provide forest clearance to a project developer only after it has the gram sabha clearance and other documents in its possession. In the case of the steel plant, Ramesh ignored this requirement claiming that the project did not impact tribals, setting a lower and legally untenable benchmark for rights of non-scheduled tribes.

But the government would not be able to use this with the tribal populations in Khandadhar hills, unless it now amends the regulations and ease the path further for Posco.