The Orissa government will submit its views to the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) on two separate reports of the Meena Gupta panel on different issues pertaining to the Posco project within three days.
"There have been two separate reports of the Meena Gupta panel on the Posco project. The MoEF has sought the views of the Orissa government on these reports and we are going to submit our views to the ministry within three days”, the state Chief Secretary B K Pattnaik told media persons.
In its response, the state government is set to counter the allegations made in the two reports on areas like CRZ (Coastal Regulatory Zone) clearance, violations of Forest Rights Act and the recommendation of cancellation of environmental clearance given to the Posco project.
Aurobindo Behera, secretary (forest and environment), Orissa government said, “There has been no regulatory violation at the Posco project site as everything has been done as per statutory clearances. There is no question of violation of CRZ norms as the Posco project is yet to take off and CRZ compliance will be ensured once the work on the project begins. Also, one needs to take note of the fact that the CRZ clearance is given by the Centre based on the recommendations of the state government.”
He also asserted that there is neither technical nor legal basis to cancel the environmental clearance of the project.Behera also opined that there was no need for another comprehensive Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) as EIA for the project has already been done.
It may be noted that the report submitted by three members of the Meena Gupta panel- Urmila Pingle, Devendra Pandey and V Suresh strongly felt that there have been many serious lapses and illegalities in the EIA process. They held that the EIA prepared for the Posco project was a rapid EIA, based on one season data without taking into account all the components of the project like township project, water project, rail road and transport facilities.
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These three members had also called for immediate revocation of the environmental clearance granted for the steel plant and the captive port project.
Asked if a separate hearing, including all the stakeholders of the project was necessary, Behera said, “There is no provision for a separate hearing for the stakeholders as the public hearing for the project has already been done.”On concerns of pollution in the Paradeep area raised in one of the reports, he stated, “The Paradeep region was declared a severely polluted industrial cluster only in May 2010 whereas the EIA for the Posco project was conducted in 2007. Hence, it would not be correct to state that concerns relating to pollution were not addressed by the State Pollution Control Board before giving Posco India the consent to establish the project.”
The committee members had alleged that concerns related to the pollution of the Paradeep area were never addressed by the decision making authorities even though these concerns were raised.