Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today cleared the proposal for granting of Prospecting Licence (PL) over Khandadhar mines to the South Korean steel major Posco's Rs 52,000 crore mega steel project near Paradip which has got the green clearance from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF), official sources said today.
Though the state government earlier in 2006 had granted PL over Khandadhar iron ore reserve's 2,500 hectare in favour of Posco, it could not materialise in view of certain court cases.
"We will send all clarifications and details that the Centre had asked on the grant of PL over Khandadhar mines to the South Korean company," a senior mines department official said after Patnaik approved the proposal in this regard today.
The Centre's clarification on the Odisha's view on the PL over Khandadhar mines to Posco was pending. "We will be sending the state's approval to the Centre in a day or two," the official said.
The Odisha government had first recommended the grant of PL to Posco India to the Centre in 2006. However, the Centre returned the recommendation back to the state government in the same year and directed it to conduct fresh hearing of all the applications made for Khandadhar mines and submit its recommendation again.
The state government took two-and-a-half years to complete the hearing of all the applicants and again made recommendation in favour of Posco in 2009. However, this was turned down by the Orissa High Court in 2010.
Three years later, the Supreme Court set aside the Orissa High Court order on Khandadhar mines and asked the Centre to take a final decision on allotment of the said mines in May, 2013. Acting upon the SC order, the Centre asked the state government for clarification on various points.
