The Orissa High Court today extended the stay on grant of prospecting license (PL) by the Union government for Khandadhar iron ore mines in favour of Posco India till 5 August 2009.
The High Court, which heard the matter today, also put off the hearing on the case pertaining to the recommendation of the Orissa government for grant of PL to the company till then.
It may be noted, the Orissa government recommended PL in favour of Posco India over 2500 hectares in village Kensara, Bhutuda, Rantha, Batagaon, Sareikala, Lusi and Raisuan under Bonai sub-division of Sundergarh district on 9 January 2009.
The recommendation was made to the Union government under provisions of section 5 (1) and 11 (5) of Mines and Minerals (Development & Regulation) Act, 1956, as iron ore is a mineral specified in the first schedule of the act. The public sector Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Limited (KIOCL) had earlier moved the Orissa High Court challenging the action of the Orissa government in recommending Posco’s name for grant of PL without taking a decision on its application. Subsequently, the chief minister’s approval was obtained to issue rejection letter to the company. The South Korean steel major Posco plans to set up a 12 million tonne integrated greenfield steel plant in Jagatsinghpur district of Orissa at an investment of Rs 51,000 crore. Billed as the largest foreign direct investment (FDI) proposal of the country, the project couldn’t make much headway due to the resistance of the locals to the land acquisition.
While the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) has accorded stage-1 clearance to the forest diversion proposal of the state government, steps are being taken to obtain the second stage clearance for making use of the forest land.