Letter to Jairam Ramesh on the committee set up for POSCO matters

31 July 2010 To Shri Jairam Ramesh Hon. Minister of State Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) Government of India Ref: Committee set up by the MoEF to look into POSCO matter Dear Sir, This is with reference to the committee set up by your ministry to look into the forest rights issues and others in POSCO project area in Orissa. We, the undersigned, are shocked that the MoEF, instead of responding by condemning the contravention of the Forest Rights Act 2006 and asking... Read More

MOEF sets up panel to probe charges against Posco

Meena Gupta who is the chair of the committee was environment secretary when the environment clearance for the Steel plant was granted in July 2007 (July 2007 is what the POSCO’s website mentions). So would be sitting in review of some aspects of the project which were granted environment clearance during her tenure. Economic Times NEW DELHI: In further trouble for South Korean giant Posco, the Centre today set up a four-member panel to probe alleged forest rights violations... Read More

Orissa halts Posco land acquisition

PTI: Orissa government today halted the land acquisition process overnight for Posco’s Rs51,000 crore mega steel project near here after facing stiff opposition from villagers. “The land acquisition and verification work, which began yesterday, was halted today due to opposition from people. We will start it soon after holding talks with villagers,” Jagatsinghpur district collector NC Jena told reporters. Read More Share/Bookmark  Read More

Avatar’s Na’vi in London to stop Vedanta mine

Avatar style protest Two Na’vi from James Cameron’s film Avatar today paid a visit to British mining company Vedanta Resources’ Annual General Meeting in Westminster, London. The Na’vi joined tribal rights organization Survival in a demonstration against Vedanta, over its controversial plan to mine the sacred mountain of India’s Dongria Kondh tribe. Martin Horwood MP, Chair of the all-party parliamentary group for tribal peoples, also attended the AGM, whilst former... Read More

Land Grab For POSCO Project Begins

Today the Orissa government initiated “acquisition” of land in the proposed POSCO project area of Jagatsinghpur District, Orissa. The project is in complete violation of the law and this “acquisition” is part of an illegal land grab. We reiterate the following: 1. 3000 of 4000 acres in the POSCO area are forest land. 2. The people of the three affected gram panchayats have rights over this forest land under the Forest Rights Act of 2006. They are eligible;... Read More

Land acquisition by govt. for Posco illegal, says Central team

Villagers at the Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti rally at Balitutha village in Jagatsinghpur district of Orissa on May 19, 2010. Photo: Prafulla Das PTI The Orissa government on Tuesday began land acquisition for the proposed Rs. 51,000 crore Posco steel project in Jagathsinghpur district, even as a Central team termed the process as “illegal” saying that the Forest Rights Act has been violated. “We have begun acquiring government land in Gada Kujang Panchayat area after... Read More

National tribunal on Kandhamal violence to be held in New Delhi

The Hindu National tribunal on Kandhamal violence to be held in New Delhi Link between violence, corporatisation must be analysed: Dhirendra Panda The communal violence that took place in Orissa was part of a new phenomenon that started in the 1990s, keeping pace with liberalisation privatisation and globalisation. The link between communal violence and corporatisation must be analysed, said Dhirendra Panda, Coordinator, National Solidarity Forum and National Tribunal in... Read More

Indian miner Vedanta faces Avatar-style protest at its London AGM

The Observer Make-up artists will paint protesters as Na’vi rebels to symbolise the plight of the Dongria Kondh tribe in Orissa Members of the Dongria Kondh tribe protest against plans by Vedanta Resources to mine bauxite from the Niyamgiri hills. Protesters at the company's AGM will pose as Na'vi rebels form the eco-film Avatar, to symbolise the tribe's plight. Photograph: Reinhard Krause / Reuters/REUTERS Controversial mining company Vedanta faces more... Read More

URGENT: Police gears up for yet another onslaught despite FRA Committee in proposed POSCO site

Surya Sahankar Dash News is coming in that several platoons of police are assembling at Gada Kujang police station to start a ‘Rapid Action’ for Re-survey of the proposed project area, on the spot compensation and demolition of villages and betel-vine plantations. This is just a day after the FRA Committee visited the area and concluded that FRA was being violated, that the State Govt. had not ensured implementation of the Act, that Forest land was illegally being... Read More

Central team to visit Posco area

17 July 2010 BHUBANESWAR, 17 JULY: Even as the Orissa government claimed that there was no tribal family in the proposed plant site villages of Posco near Paradip, a Central team headed by Mr NC Saxena was scheduled to visit the area on 23 and 24 July to ascertain the facts, official sources said today. The Central team’s visit to the proposed plant site assumed significance in the face of allegation that the state government violated Forest Land Rights Act while recommending... Read More