Activists praise rethink on Orissa steel plant

(October 23, 2010) Church and social activists in Orissa have welcomed a government committee’s recommendation to cancel clearances given to a South Korean firm to mine and build a steel mill in the state. “We are happy the panel has stood with the poor,” Sister Justine of Sisters of St. Joseph Annecy, a human rights activist, told UCA News on October 20. A day earlier, three of the four-member committee said the government should cancel environmental and forest clearances given to South Korean steel giant POSCO - the Pohang Iron and Steel Company. Meena Gupta, who headed the committee, wants existing clearances to continue, but her colleagues say she had “conflict of interest” as she was the federal Environment secretary when the POSCO received the green light. Sister Justine, who supports tribal villagers in their fight against the project, says the government should “heed the majority decision of the panel and scrap all licenses.” The US$12 billion plan aims to produce 12 million tons of steel a year, the biggest foreign investment project in India. Trouble started in 2005 when the Korean firm’s Indian subsidiary signed agreements with the Orissa government. Tribal leaders say the project would displace 42,493 people in Sundargarh district alone. Of these 32,044 are tribal, dalit and poor Christians