The Meena Gupta committee report may have cheered anti-Posco groups in Orissa, but the personal letter written by its chairperson to environment minister Jairam Ramesh has raised hopes in the pro-Posco lobby.
Besides clarifying some points, the letter has questioned the assessment of the situation by three other members of the committee, who gave a collective thumbs-down to the project. ?My concern was, primarily, that the three members were going beyond the committee?s terms and reference when they wished to assess not merely the compliance with the clearances granted, but the grant of clearances, per se,? she said. Gupta said that though her’s is the minority view, it should be given equal value.
?My view is a minority view. Though a minority view is not necessarily less valid than a majority view, it is always difficult to be in a minority. You feel safe and vindicated if you are in majority, if others agree with your views or vice versa. However, if one is convinced about the correctness of one?s decision, one should not be afraid to go it alone,? she has asserted.
Stating that the committee performed in difficult circumstances, she said the committee had to prepare the report under public perception that equated the Posco project with Vedanta. ?Since Posco, like Vedanta, is a large mineral-based company in the process of establishing a major project in Orissa, the two projects are often equated in the public mind. There was an immediate assumption, therefore, that the Posco project too would be disallowed. Working in this kind of charged atmosphere is neither pleasant nor easy,? she wrote.
While the Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS) is quite enthusiastic on the success of their struggle, the five left-led political parties opposing Posco are rejoicing in anticipation of a victory. The PPSS will organise a massive rally at the Posco’s proposed project site in the next two three days.
?Since the forest advisory committee is meeting on October 25 to study the report and recommend to the ministry of environment and forests, we are going to organise a huge rally before that,? said PPSS chairman Abhaya Sahu. ?We will demand that all statutory clearances accorded to the project be withdrawn immediately as suggested by the majority members of the Meena Gupta committee… The struggle would continue till the government announces that the project has been scrapped for all time to come?, added Sahu.
Claiming that their stand has been vindicated, Sahu said the committee is unanimous that the Forest Rights Act has been grossly violated. He said both the Saxena Committee and Meena Gupta Committee have agreed that there is a violation of FRA in project site. PPSS is spearheading a movement against the location of the Posco project since the South Korean steel major singed the MoU with the Orissa government on June 22, 2005 to set up a 12 million tonne steel plant at a cost of $12 billion in Jagatsinghpur district.
Five political parties ? CPI, CPM, Forward Bloc, Rastriya Janata Dal, and Samajwadi Party ? have demanded that forest and environment clearance accorded to the Posco project be withdrawn immediately as recommended by the Meena Gupta committee.
