5-year wait for green signal

The MoEF directed the government to stop work “forthright” over non-settlement of rights of dwellers of forest land.

For those opposed to the project,the order has come as a boost. “We would ask the MoEF to cancel environmental clearance of Posco,” said Abhay Sahoo,who heads the Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti.

Roadblocks aplenty

EVEN before the MoEF order,the project faced many delays due to administrative,regulatory and legal roadblocks. Soon after the company signed an MoU,protests against land acquisition in Jagatsinghpur made it impossible for Posco officials to reach the proposed site and conduct surveys. Led by Sahoo,a former member of CPI’s state council,people in three gram panchayats of Jagatsinghpur put up bamboo barricades around their villages,stopping all efforts of land acquisition. With 13 tribals killed in police firing in Kalinganagar area of Jajpur district in January 2006,the state government did not pursue the land acquisition matter seriously for a couple of years.

In 2006 and 2008,Posco’s executives had a harrowing time as villagers opposing the project kept them hostage. Though they were released unharmed,it thwarted Orissa’s attempts of acquiring land.

Three years ago,an exasperated Tae Hyun Jeong,the then deputy managing director of Posco India Limited,asked: “We are bringing capital into India,90 per cent of our employees will be Indian,we have paid site fees to the state exchequer. Then why are people protesting?”

Industry department officials say that of the 4,004 acres needed by the company,it faced land acquisition problems in only 432 acres spread across the gram panchayats of Dhinkia,Gadakujanga and Nuagaon. The project would lead to the displacement of 466 families.

Just when the company was about to restart land acquisition process came reports that of the 4,004 acres of land,3,095 acres are forest land,as per government records. To use forest land for non-forest purposes the company needs to divert the same following an approval by the Forest Advisory Committee of the MoEF. In August 2008,the Supreme Court gave the green signal for diversion of forest land for the project.

Meanwhile,though it applied for prospecting licence (PL) for iron ore mining in Khandadhar iron ore reserve in September 2005,the licence could not be granted for some time as 226 other companies,who were eyeing that reserve,cried foul and moved the Orissa High Court alleging favouritism to Posco. The granting of the licence was delayed as the HC asked the state government to hear the petitions of all the companies. The state government completed the hearing and granted Posco the licence.

Last month,the mining proposal was stalled as the High Court quashed the state government’s recommendation after a Karnataka-based company appealed that the notification on the basis of which Posco was granted the licence was not legally tenable. The court said the Karnataka company should be given the preferential right as it was the first applicant for the licence.

Rs 400-cr package

VIKASH Saran,vice-president (corporate affairs) of Posco India Limited,said it was difficult to fathom why people are opposing the project as the company is planning to give beyond what it initially decided. “We are giving more than what these people would get if their rights are settled under the FRA. Unless there is some ulterior motive,it is difficult to understand the opposition,” said Sharan.

“We are committed to the project,but unless we get the land we can’t have any time schedule for the project,” he added.

The state government officials are sure that there is a concerted move to scuttle the project. “Why did the MoEF ask the state to stop work at Posco site just on the recommendations of a small sub-group when another committee appointed by it to oversee implementation of the FRA in that area is yet to submit its report,” asked an official of the Steel and Mines Department.

Despite all the hurdles,the prospects for the project looked brighter after Posco last month announced a Rs 400-crore rehabilitation package,the largest-ever in the country. As per the package,over 2,000 people would have benefitted. While fixing the price of private land at Rs 17 lakh per acre for the project,the state government announced a compensation of Rs 11.5 lakh an acre for the loss of betel vines,most of which are on government land. The new package,double of the standard government package,announced that landless labourers working on betel vines will get 20 per cent of the total compensation for the loss,which is over and above the amount paid to the owners of the areas where betel is grown.

And then came the MoEF spanner. While the CM has protested against the MoEF order and sought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s intervention,government officials admitted that it would be difficult for them to kickstart the process soon. Meanwhile,the MoU with Posco,which lapsed on June 21 this year after the expiry of the five-year period,has not been renewed.