Environment panel calls Posco clearance a mockery of law

After Vedanta, it is the turn of the South Korean steel giant Posco to fall foul of environment minister Jairam Ramesh's policy of relooking at the major clearances given by his predecessors at the environment ministry.

In a stinging indictment of bureaucratic collusion, three of a the four experts appointed by the ministry have recommended scrapping both the forest and the environment clearances given to the company's Orissa project, terming them a mockery of law. The various clearances were given from 2005 -- when the project was mooted -- to as late as December last year.

Ramesh said the ministry will take a final call on the Rs51,000 crore project -- the largest foreign project on Indian soil -- on Monday.

The three experts -- anthropologist Dr Urmila Pingle, former director general of forest Dr Devendra Pandey and Madras high court advocate Dr V Suresh -- found evidences of collusion and apathy with nearly every assessment of the project by state and central governments officials over the last five years. Meena Gupta, a former secretary with the ministry of environment and forests, provided the lone dissenting opinion, preferring to add additional restrictions on Posco instead of scrapping the clearances.

The committee was appointed as part of an effort to 'clean-up' the murky deals for which the environment ministry had become famous for, before Jairam's tenure started in April last year. The clean-up has already cost one big mining company - London-based Vedanta Resources -its mining and smeltering unit in Orissa after it was found to have overstepped its authorisations.

As in the case of Vedanta, the committee found that both the state and the central government officers had conveniently looked the other way as the project was being prepared in violation of existing environmental norms. It found fault with the assessment of impact on all the three main factors  -- the coastline, the forest and the livelihoods of the people around the project.

"The authorities failed to provide copies of the environment impact assessment to panchayats; all the project affected persons were not given opportunity to be heard. It was held in Kujanga about 15km away from the affected villages... many villagers could not travel to participate in the public hearing... there was presence of a strong police force at the venue... [which] served as a deterrent to free participation by local villagers, who were opposing the project," the three experts commented on the livelihood impact assessment process.

The three experts pointed out that even for the limited objections that were raised, Posco -- which wants to set up India's biggest steel plant on Orissa's coast -- could not offer adequate replies. Despite this, the three pointed out, the central government appointed expert appraisal committee (EAC) rubber-stamped their approval of the port-cum-steel plant project.

"The EAC has failed to apply its mind to the objections raised by various authorities... (and) has also failed to record any reasons in respect of accepting or rejecting the objections raised but instead gave clearance. Such mechanical clearance makes a mockery of rule of law and procedural safeguards," the report said.

The committee also found that Posco contradicted its own documents when explaining the project impact. "During the visit of the committee on September 21, the representative of Posco-India, SN Singh informed the members that the existing mouth of the Jatadharmohan creek will be used as an approach channel for one lane for vessels... The map provided by Posco, however, shows that existing mouth will be filled and sandy barrier spit at about 500m away towards south will be cut... Such cutting and filling of sand bars are in contravention of the CRZ notification," it pointed out, adding that the company's ingenious explanation for the mismatch was "not convincing".

The indictment, however, is likely to be less troublesome for Posco as the company is yet to make any concrete investment on the ground. Most of the experts' ire has been reserved for the central and state officials who seemingly colluded with the company to show low environmental impact. Unlike in Vedanta's case -- where a running plant was to be shuttered -- Posco is likely to be forced to re-apply for environmental clearance and a new EAC is likely to be set up to study the impact of the plant.

The Korean project, when ready, will count as one of the largest steel projects in the world - with a combined production capacity equal to those of six big Indian steel plants at Bhilai, Bokaro, Durgapur, Rourkela, Burnpur and Salem.