Bhubaneswar:
The National Green Tribunal has suspended the environmental clearance given to South Korean steel giant Pohang Steel Corporation's (POSCO) mega steel project in Odisha in January 2011.
The tribunal has also slammed the Ministry of Environment and Forest for the way the clearance was provided. It has also asked the Environment Ministry to review it afresh.
Reacting to the suspension of the clearance, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said that the National Green Tribunal has sent its order to the Central government and that the state government will do the needful only after they receive a copy of the order.
The suspension comes just four days after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, during his trip to Seoul, gave an assurance to the President of South Korea that the proposed mega project will become a reality soon.
"The government is keen to move forward with the POSCO project and there is some progress in this regard. I believe that India is a stable and profitable long-term investment opportunity," the PM had said.
The POSCO steel project, India's largest foreign investment project estimated at $12 billion, has been hobbled for years by local protests against land acquisition of over 4,000 acres in Paradip in the eastern coastal state.
For the last seven years people in Dhinkia Panchayat have been demanding relocation of the project. They say it will deprive them of their major source of income from the betel vines spread across nearly 3000 acres of forest land.