1,000 acres of land yet to be acquired by the company The Centre came out confident today that with the renewal of environment clearance, South Korean steel giant Posco’s project in Odisha would take off soon. “The government is working to expedite clearances for the $12-billion project of steel major Posco in Odisha that was awarded environment clearance last week,” Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said in Delhi on Wednesday. After a meeting with visiting South Korean Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Yoon Sang-jick, Mr. Sharma told the media: “So far, 1,700 acres of land — out of 2,718 acres — have been transferred to Posco and the rest will soon be given.” The Union Environment and Forests Minister had recently taken a U-turn on the Ministry’s position to renew a piece-meal environmental clearance for Posco’s steel plant without awaiting a holistic review of the entire integrated project or the forest clearance, which is under dispute before the National Green Tribunal. Green activists also accused the Ministry of breaching a 2012 Supreme Court judgment, often referred to as the “Lafarge judgement,’ which said environmental clearances cannot be given for projects that require forests unless the government has already given the nod to use the forest patch under the Forest Conservation Act, 1980. Mr. Sharma did refer to the legal dispute over the acquisition of forestlands acknowledging that roughly 1,000 acres were still to be acquired by the company. He said: “Approval for only about 13 per cent of the land requirement is pending before the National Green Tribunal. The Union government and the government of Odisha will ensure that an early view will be taken on this. The first phase of the project is now ready for take-off. They won’t need all the land overnight.” The National Green Tribunal is currently hearing a petition against illegal felling of trees on the project site. The State government is yet to give the formal letter of forest clearance though the Centre has given an in-principle approval for the same. The tribunal has stayed any cutting of trees on the disputed land which promises to delay the acquisition of the forestlands. The project is yet to get the linked iron-ore mines allocated as well. These mines, once approved under the mining laws, would also require separate forest and environment clearances under the green laws from the Centre. The Ministry of External Affairs’ point person for East Asia, Gautam Bambawale, told The Hindu , “We believe that with this and the fact that the acquisition of land has more or less been completed by the Odisha government, Posco can now move forward with the project in the coming weeks and in the coming months. So, we do hope that Posco India will commence the project very soon.”