Orissa Chief Minister to meet PM to discuss Vedanta, Posco projects

New Delhi, Aug 22 (ANI): Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here on Monday regarding the NC Saxena Committee report on Vedanta mining and Posco steel plant projects.

He will also discuss the Polavaram (Indira Sagar) issue.

The state government has been opposing the Polavaram project over river Godavari by Andhra Pradesh government as it claims that it would submerge many areas of Malkangiri district of Orissa.

The state government had earlier questioned the blockage of Posco project and Vedanta at the same time when it has approved the Polavaram Dam without conducting Gram Sabhas and public hearings in the state.

Meanwhile, the Environment Ministry has recently given its green signal to divert over 3,000 hectares of forest land for the construction of Indira Sagar (Polavaram) multi-purpose project.

The Saxena panel had found serious violations in the provisions of environmental clearance and the Environment Protection Act by Vedanta.

One such violation related to the unauthorised expansion of capacity from one million tonne a year to six million tons.

The expansion had no environment clearance and Vedanta is said to have ignored repeated notices sent by the Orissa Pollution Control Board to stop work.

Set up by the Environment Ministry early this year, the committee, which investigated alleged violations of environmental laws by Vedanta, also accused the company of illegally occupying forest land for its USD 1.7 billion project. (ANI)