Halt Posco work,Jairam’s Ministry to Orissa; Naveen sends SOS to PM

“The report of the committee should not be used as a pretext to stop work,” Patnaik wrote in his letter,pointing out that the state government had followed due processes of law after which the Environment Ministry itself had given its “final approval” to the project last December.

The $12-billion POSCO project is the single biggest foreign investment in the country and its future is often seen as key to India’s image of being a friendly investment destination for foreign capital.

In his letter to the state government,Assistant Inspector General of Forests H C Chaudhary said: “I am directed to say that Government of Orissa shall take all necessary measures and ensure that work,if any,being undertaken on the said land,for the said project,including handing over of forest and non-forest land to the said project,shall be stopped forthwith.”

The decision was based on the findings of a three-member sub-group of a committee jointly constituted by the Environment Ministry and the Ministry of Tribal Affairs. This sub-group,which had visited the project site last month, alleged violation of the Forest Rights Act in the diversion of 1253 hectares of forest land for the construction of the iron and steel plant.

The committee noted in its report that contrary to facts presented by the district administration of Jagatsinhpur,the land in question was inhabited by forest dwellers whose resettlement had not been done in accordance with law. The district administration,in a communication in March,had said there was no tribal population dependent on forest land in that area. But the committee submitted both documentary and oral evidence to contradict this claim.

The committee also detected what it said were irregularities,including the fact that the district administration had not completed the process of verifying claims of the local residents as mandated under law. “The FRA (Forest Rights Act) process has not been completed,in fact it has not proceeded beyond the initial stages,for various reasons,” it observed.

Incidentally,the “final approval” of the Environment Ministry,which was made subject to completion of all processes under the Forest Rights Act,itself came in for criticism in the committee’s report which asked the Ministry to withdraw the clearance given by it in December 2009.