POSCO final decision in a week: Jairam Ramesh

NEW DELHI - A final decision on granting green clearances for South Korean steelmaker POSCO’s steel mill in Orissa will be made by January-end, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said Monday.

Ramesh was addressing media persons after a closed-door interaction with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

The environment ministry has put on hold the proposed POSCO project, citing violations of environment and forests laws by the company.

POSCO requires about 4,004 acres, mostly government land, for its project. Of the land earmarked, 2,900 acres is forest land. Thousands of villagers have been opposing the project, saying it will displace them from their homelands and ruin their betel leaf farms.

POSCO and the state government, however, maintain that the project will bring prosperity and employment to the impoverished region.

The minister also referred to the Lavasa lake city project near Pune. “The ministry is looking to reach amicable solution on Lavasa,” he said.

We are trying to find a negotiated solution and trying to find a compromise. We don’t want to minimise the integrity of the environmental process. The environmental integrity has to be maintained, he said.

Ramesh also said that he met the Lavasa officials recently.

The officials mentioned to me that the project needs to go forward. Now we are trying to see how best the conditions could be fulfilled. Let us see what will happen, he told reporters.

The environment ministry Nov 25 slapped a show-cause notice on the Lavasa Lake City project because it had allegedly failed to secure necessary environmental clearances before starting work on its 5,000-plus hectare project coming up in Mulshi sub-district of Pune district, around 200 km from Mumbai.