UPDATE: March 9, 2016
POSCO’s Submission in the National Green Tribunal Saying it Will Not Establish a Plant in Odisha
Press Release
POSCO today informed the National Green Tribunal of its inability to complete the Steel Plant by July 2017 which is a condition in the environment clearance given for 8 million tonnes instead of 12 million tonnes. Further POSCO submitted that they are not in a position to carry on any work on the strength of this environmental clearance.
Prafulla Samantara, President, Lok Shakti Abhiyan had challenged the clearance for 8 million tones given in the year 2013. POSCO was not providing any answers to these queries for the past six months. This ambiguity got cleared yesterday. POSCO has to clear out.
There has been illegally felling of more than 2 lakh trees which is an irreparable loss to environment. It was done without forest clearance.
So the price of economic value of loss should be recovered from POSCO to enable a regeneration of the forest. Mr Samantara has demanded that the government withdraw all the false criminal charges against people of Govindapur and Dhinkia and other Activists who were protesting democratically against displacement and land acquisition for POSCO.
He also urges the government to allot pattas of forest land to the villagers where they had access to cultivation since 1928. They are entitled as forest dwellers under FRA 2006 according to the Report of the Meena Gupta Committee.
Prafulla Samantara, President, Lok Shakti Abhiyan
April 8, 2016
Late evening today, Friday April 8, 2016 the news that the POSCO Plant would no more be set up in Odisha was received differently by different quarters, with rights activists, tribal communities and activists rejoicing and others –which include sections of the media—portraying it as a ‘loss’
Today, at a hearing before the National Green Tribunal (NGT),Posco India reportedly said that it would not establish the proposed 12 million tonne capacity steel plant near Paradip in Jagatsinghpur district of Odisha.The counsel of the South Korean company stated this before the National Green Tribunal during a hearing conducted on Friday. According to information, an NGT bench headed by Justice Swatantra Kumar conducted the hearing on a petition filed by noted environmentalist Prafulla Samantara opposing establishment of the proposed project near Paradip in Jagatsinghpur district.
Samantara had alleged before the NGT that environment clearance availed to the South Korean steel major by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF).Accordingly, the NGT had served notices to the MoEF, Posco and the Odisha State Pollution Control Board.
Notably, the Pohang Steel Company, the fourth largest steel-maker of the world, had signed an MoU with the Odisha Government on June 22, 2006 to establish a 12 million tonne capacity steel plant near Paradip. Though, the company had availed primary environment clearance from the MoEF, it faced many hurdles in getting subsequent environment and forest clearances. It also faced protests from locals and different political parties over displacement, water and captive port issues.
Unparalled state repression had marked the people’s struggle against the establishment of the plant. Three activists protesting were also killed when Odisha police were accused of open connivance with the company in 2013.
On May 15, 2010 the police fired rubber bullets and tear gas shells and lathicharged hundreds of villagers staging a dharna on the road at Balitutha in Jagatsinghpur district of Orissa to clear all hurdles against land acquisition and allotment of mines to Posco at the earliest as committed by the government.It was alleged that this was done to help the administration acquire land for the steel project—Posco—police mercilessly beat up the villagers injuring more than 100 including many women from Dhinkia and nearby villages, (The Hindu, May 16, 2010: 8)
The South Korean company’s move to have a captive port was opposed as it would, arguably adversely affect Paradeep Port. The protesters also objected to its plan for captive iron ore mines instead of purchasing ore from the Orissa Mining Corporation. It has been alleged that the proposal to draw water from Mahanadi Barrage would affect the irrigation system and lead to ecological degradation. The Centre as well as State Government were accused of ignoring the issues raised by the anti-Posco protesters (Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti). Though the district authorities earlier termed the blockade illegal and clamped Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code in the area (prohibiting the assembly of five or more people), the government held no formal dialogue with the agitating villagers before using the police to remove the road blockade.
Today, April 8, 2016, the NDTV reported the move as a threat to the future of 2,000 families who had given land for the project. “With the ratification of the Mines and Mineral (Development and Regulation) Bill, 2015 by Parliament, which disallows preferential treatment for giving mining leases, uncertainty looms over the future of the steel-giant POSCO, threatening the future of over 2,000 families in Jagatsinghpur district of Odisha, who had given away their land for the project. The matter was also reported in The Economic Times.