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'.

Odisha State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB) has served fresh notice to 23 industries, who failed to install a device for online monitoring of pollution.

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.

CUTTACK: Lack of toilet facilities could soon be a thing of the past for Cuttack slum -dwellers. To improve the sanitation condition in the slums, Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) has decided to construct 32 community toilets.

The Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation will provide assistance to the civic body for the project. The project will cost Rs 4.21 crore, of which the CMC will spend Rs 1.98 crore while the foundation will spend the remaining amount.

BHUBANESWAR: Odisha State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB) has served fresh notice to 23 industries, who failed to install a device for online monitoring of pollution. They have been asked to install the device by the end of February.

Earlier, the OSPCB had given November 30 deadline to install the device to 29 big industries, out of which only six industries complied. The board had introduced the online monitoring system in September to keep track of hazardous emission by high polluting industries in the state.

The Odisha government on Friday decided to temporarily suspend land acquisition for Posco's $12 billion steel project in its Jagatsinghpur district due to protests at the site, an official said.

KEONJHAR: Shrinking water bodies and depleting groundwater level in the district has once again brought to the fore the demand to protect river Baitarani, considered the 'lifeline of Keonjhar'.

The Keonjhar Citizen's Forum blamed the present situation on the 'faulty policy' of the government. "The water of the district is allocated to different industries and mining houses, without any consultation with the people here, who have the first right on the water," the forum alleged.

The indefinite agitation by people of Jarada village, who lost their land and houses for Kaniha open-cast coalmine, entered its 12th day on Tuesday. Coal production is disrupted as the agitators are not allowing any employees to work.

More than 700 families were affected and 750 acres acquired by the Mahanadi Coalfields Limited(MCL) in 1995. Sources said though 450 families have been provided jobs till now, another 150 affected families are yet to get employment. Demanding jobs and resettlement, the villagers have been staging a sit-in in front of the coalmine main gate at Kaniha since January 24.

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.

BHUBANESWAR: The Indian Red Cross Society (IRCS), state branch, is planning to increase the number of Jan Aushadhi stores to 400 within a year. At present, just 16 such fair price shops sell generic medicines in the state. The shops, established under Centre-sponsored Jan Aushadhi scheme, sell 'quality' medicines, manufactured by PSUs, at a price as low as one-tenth of the prevailing market rate.

An initiative of the Union ministry of chemical and fertilizers, these shops popularize generic medicines. In Odisha, such stores are managed by the IRCS. The Medical Council of India recently asked doctors to prescribe generic medicines.