Jairam Ramesh

New Delhi, April 14: Union environment minister Jairam Ramesh today put on hold forest clearance to the Rs 52,000-crore Posco steel-cum-captive power plant in Orissa.

The final decision on forest clearance for the company got stuck amid conflicting claims by the state government and residents of affected forest areas.

The Union environment ministry had in January this year conditionally approved Posco’s proposal for a steel plant near Paradip, but had sought an assurance from the Orissa government that forest rights laws had been fulfiled.

But the environment ministry indicated today that the assurance it had received from the Orissa government yesterday appears to be in conflict with claims in a representation the ministry has received from forest resident groups opposing the project.

In a letter sent to Ramesh on Monday, Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS) claimed that any assurance from the Orissa government would be “false and illegal”, and asked the ministry to reject the assurance.

The PPSS has said gram sabha resolutions of Dhinkia and Gobindapur villages passed in February this year state that the people of the area are eligible as other traditional forest dwellers for individual and community rights under the Forest Rights Act and that they reject consent to the proposed diversion of land for the Posco project.

It said people from Dhinkia and Gobindapur have been filling out claim forms and verifying rights claims.

“Ignoring these two Palli Sabha (village council) resolutions and not allowing them to be subjected to a due process of law as enshrined in the Forest Rights Act, 2006 would be tantamount, in my considered opinion, to violating the very essence of this legislation passed unanimously and with acclaim by Parliament,” Ramesh said today.

He said he had forwarded the representation he has received from the PPSS to the Orissa government.

“While the state government had earlier categorically denied the authenticity of documentation submitted (by PPSS), I do believe these two resolutions have to be disposed of by appropriate authorities,” Ramesh said.

Ramesh said a final decision on forest clearance would be taken only after the ministry receives information from the state government that the appropriate authorities have completed the process of recognition and verification for all villages where forestland is to be transferred for non-forestry purposes.

The proposed 12 million tonnes per year steel plant could be India's largest foreign direct investment so far. Orissa and Posco had signed an agreement for the plant in 2005, but the proposal has encountered opposition from sections of local communities as well as human rights and environmental activists.

In January this year, the Union environment ministry had cleared the project with 28 new conditions relating to air, environment and water in addition to those stipulated earlier in the original environmental clearance delivered in July 2007. The state government has maintained that people living in the project area are not tribals, neither do they qualify as ”other traditional forest dwellers”, hence cannot claim rights guaranteed under Forest Rights Act.

While according conditional environment clearance to the project on January 31, Ramesh had sought a pointed assurance report from the Orissa government on proper implementation of the Forest Rights Act at the company’s proposed plant site villages.

In today's letter, Ramesh emphasised provisions of the Forest Rights Act, 2006, that explicitly state that no member of a forest dwelling scheduled tribe or other traditional forest dweller shall be evicted or removed from forest land under his occupation till the recognition and verification procedure is completed.

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