Environment min panel defers forest clearance for Odisha steel plant

Ahead of general elections next month, the mega steel plant project in Odisha is back in the limelight, with JSW Steel now seeking forest clearance from the union environment ministry. South Korean steel firm Posco was initially planning to implement the project before it pulled out of the project.

The Odisha government, which has transferred land to JSW-Steel to build the 12-MTPA steel plant, has sought the transfer of forest clearance from the forest advisory committee (FAC) of the environment ministry, official documents show. The steel project is worth Rs 65,000 crore.

The FAC took up the project for an appraisal on February 21 but deferred transfer of clearance in order to seek a legal opinion on the issue, minutes of the meeting stated. JSW Steel requires 1,083.69 hectares of forest land for the steel plant, documents show.

“The issue of transfer of forest clearance approval needs legal interpretation,” the FAC stated. It directed the state government to submit a detailed land use plans from the time Posco was in-charge of the project and plans of JSW Steel as of now along with a comparative statement of the components, which were allowed for Posco India Ltd and those proposed for JSW Utkal Steel.

In 2017, Posco had offered to surrender the land to Odisha government that had allotted for the steel plant. The Korean giant’s steel plant was billed as the biggest foreign direct investment in the country in 2005 as it was worth over Rs 52,000 crore back then.

However, the project faced large scale protests from the locals in Jagatsinghpur district on grounds of displacement and the project’s impact on betel vine cultivations in the region. In fact, the environment ministry had granted final forest clearance for 1,253.22 hectares on May 4, 2011.

The integrated steel plant was proposed to be located in Kujang Tehsil of Jagatsinghpur district, Odisha, about 12 km from Paradip. The proposed project requires 4,004 acres of land of which 437.68 acres is private land and 3,566.342 acres the government land.