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The government is moving in the heavy artillery in an attempt to ensure the country’s largest foreign direct investment project goes operational soon, despite continuing opposition from the people whose lands and livelihoods it imperils
The Indian government is determined to ensure that the South Korean steel giant Posco’s Rs 54,000-crore project in Orissa gets all regulatory clearances and gets started in the next few months. The plant is the largest foreign direct investment in the country. "Efforts are to see that the entire matter is seen, signed and delivered in the next four-five months. This includes physical transfer of land and all regulatory clearances to Posco," Union steel minister Virbhadra Singh told reporters on January 25, 2010 after an eight-member Posco delegation headed by the company's chairman and global head Joon-Yang Chung called on him. "It was a very fruitful meeting," Joon-Yang Chung said after the meeting. Singh said mines had already been allotted to Posco but some claimants, including a PSU, had moved Orissa High Court against it but the government would request the high court to dispose of the case expeditiously. The litigant PSU would also be persuaded to withdraw the case. He said that the steel giant is also in talks with the Maharashtra and Karnataka governments for other steel projects. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, who was the chief guest at this year’s Republic Day parade, met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the evening of the 25th where the matter was discussed. A day later, Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik flew to Delhi to also meet the Korean president and discuss the project. Posco India, which had signed an MoU with the state government on June 22, 2005 to set up a 12 million tonne steel project near Paradip, had failed to implement the project due to stiff opposition from the local people, mostly by the CPI-backed Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS). The final environmental clearance for the steel plant was accorded on December 29, 2009. Following this the state government announced that it was going to seek a referendum from the people of Jagatsinghpur district who have been opposing the project ever since the MoU was signed four years ago. The left parties opposing the project held a demonstration outside the collector’s office in Bhubaneswar on January 22, 2010. They are demanding that fertile agriculture land should not be surrendered for the project, that the waters of the Mahanadi that irrigate the fields should not be diverted for use by Posco and that the company should not be granted a mining lease for its steel plant. They warned of increased agitations if the government ignored the sentiments and rights of the people who would be affected by the steel plant. Source: PTI, January 26, 2010
The Telegraph, January 25, 2010
Financial Express, January 26, 2010
Odishatoday.com, January 22, 2010
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