The appeal has been made in a faxed response to a letter written by the Union environment and forests minister Jairam Ramesh to chief minister Naveen Patnaik recently, chief secretary BK Patnaik told reporters in Bhubaneshwar.
Claiming that it never violated any law while implementing the Posco project, the Orissa government today demanded the Centre to allow work at the plant site.
The appeal has been made in a faxed response to a letter written by the Union environment and forests minister Jairam Ramesh to chief minister Naveen Patnaik recently, chief secretary BK Patnaik told reporters in Bhubaneshwar.
Referring to a report by the three-member Posco panel, chaired by Meena Gupta, which alleged violation of the Forest Rights Act at the project area in Jagatsinghpur district, Patnaik said the state government has "properly followed" the rules and procedure.
He said that views of the locals were incorporated in the report and therefore there is no question of violation of the law under the Forest Rights Act.
The state government, however, for the first time admitted that there were 21 tribal families in the region. "But, the tribal families are not in the proposed project area, though they reside in the same locality," the official said.
"We have throughly verified this before giving a reply to the Centre."
On the violation of the environment and Coastal Regulation Zone rules, the state government claimed there is no question of violation as the project was yet to come up in the area.
Stating that Meena Gupta had mentioned this matter in her report, Patnaik said "The state government will strictly follow the rules under the environment and CRZ after the project become operational."
"This is premature to raise question on the violation of environment and CRZ rules now," the chief secretary said.
The Centre had issued a stop work notice to the state government following the NC Saxena Committee report which alleged that there was gross violation of the Forest Rights Act in Posco's project area.
The state government also claimed that there is no tree in the area now, though the records categorised it as a forest area.
The South Korean steel giant Posco wants to set up a Rs51,000-crore plant in Orissa.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}