Bhubaneswar: In June 2005 when the Naveen Patnaik government signed an MoU with the South Korean steel behemoth, Posco, for a 12-mtpa mega steel plant in the state, the public euphoria reached its

There was no good news for Odisha in the latest national tiger population report released in New Delhi on Tuesday.

Concrete houses for fishermen, cyclone shelters and underground cabling for power supply are among the host of projects the state government on Wednesday placed before a central team on external as

The Phailin wound barely healed, Ganjam district on Thursday was threatened by yet another natural calamity, that of flood.

Almost all rivers were in spate, triggered by four days of unprecedented rain, forcing the government to evacuate people to safer places.
"Over one lakh people were marooned as floodwaters from Rushikulya, Badanadi, Ghodahada and Bahuda rivers entered many villages. By evening, nearly 10,000 people had been evacuated. The communication network has been badly disrupted.

BHUBANESWAR: A high-level committee set up by the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) to review the mega Posco steel project in the state has spelled fresh trouble for the much-hyped project.

The committee headed by K Roy Paul was constituted as per the March 30, 2012 order of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), which had suspended the environment clearance granted to the project.

Paradip: Legally speaking, the state government cannot acquire lands for the Posco project, nor can construction work be started at the designated site as the project has no environment clearance in hand, official sources said.

"The Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) notification, 2006, forbids activity of any nature at the site without environmental clearance," a senior official in the industry department said on Wednesday, quoting the existing law. He described the latest episode of the state government demolishing betel vines of farmers in the proposed plant site as 'highly illegal' and 'unconstitutional'.

BHUBANESWAR: As noted social activist B D Sharma visited Posco's proposed steel site in Jagatsinghpur district on Monday to lend his support to the project's opponents, top executives of the South Korean company requested senior government officers in the state capital to resume land acquisition work at the earliest.

Official sources said deputy managing director of Posco-India H C Ryu met officials at the chief minister's office (CMO) and exhorted them to revive the land takeover activities, which were stalled last week in the face of stiff resistance from the anti-industry brigade and local villagers.

Bhubaneswar: Unmindful of the continuing protests against the Posco project, the state government is moving ahead to acquire as much land as possible within a month for the South Korean steel major to begin construction work, sources said on Tuesday. Posco requires a total of 2,700 acres of land to begin work, said sources.

At least 14 platoons of armed police forces have been deployed in the Dhinkia area to crush the agitation by villagers unwilling to gice up their land. “If needed, more police forces would be sent,” said a government official. The government’s action is being seen in many quarters as illegal as the project does not have an environment clearance (EC).

BHUBANESWAR: Widespread resentment is growing against the state government for suddenly sending armed police forces to suppress agitating villagers and acquire their lands for the Posco project which has been entangled in a host of litigations. The government renewed the process of land acquisition for the South Korean steel giant on Sunday even though the National Green Tribunal had earlier suspended the final environmental clearance (EC) given to it by the ministry of environment and forest (MoEF).

Hundreds of police forces swooped down on Gobindapur village early on Sunday morning and seized the entire area from all sides as officials started pulling down betel vines, one of the major source of livelihood for the local tribals. The government had earlier conducted a similar exercise and claimed to have taken possession of over 2,000 acres of land from the villagers.