The High Court of Orissa, hearing public interest litigation against violent police crackdown on villagers protesting JSW Utkal Steel’s proposed 13mntpa greenfield plant in Jagatsinghpur, has allowed lawyers of both sides to visit the place.
The company is not a party to this matter arising from three petitions filed by villagers of Dhinkia who are fiercely opposed to the project as they were to South Korean steelmaker Posco’s plans once. According to those in the know, lawyers of the petitioners told the court that police had practically barred all access to the Dhinkia, whose residents had been beaten by the police last month during a standoff as the state proceeded to clear betel vines they grow on government land that Odisha is to hand over to JSW Utkal Steel.
The HC has ordered that counsels appearing for the petitioners, Prasanta Kumar Jena, Omkar Devdas and Sukanta Kumar Dalai as well as Debakanta Mohanty and J. Katikia, Additional Government Advocates visit the Dhinkia on 19th February 2022 and file a joint report of their assessment of the situation on the ground. “If they are unable to agree on their respective perceptions it is permissible for them to file their respective reports,” says the order.
In the meanwhile, the petitioners’ counsels have been asked to furnish the names of villagers apprehensive of returning home and for the state advocates “to arrange for them to be escorted back to the village without any fear, harassment by way of threat of arrest or risk to their safety.”
The court will resume hearing the matter on 23 February 2022.
Meanwhile, last week on 11 Feb 2022, JSW Utkal Steel was heard again by the Expert Appraisal Committee of the Ministry of Environment and Forest, Climate Change. The company expects to finally get clearance for the proposed 13 mntpa steel plant, 32 mntpa pellet plant, a 10 mntpa cement plant and 900 MW power plant linked to 30 mntpa slurry pipeline and a 52 mntpa captive jetty. The EAC had returned the project the past three times, including last month, for want of additional information.
In its January sittings, the Committee had sought details of land acquisition and the status of the three PILs against the Odisha government’s violent crackdown. The steelmaker is acquiring land that had been identified for the South Korean steelmaker Posco’s now shelved steel plant. It has inherited the former’s forest clearance, transferred to the JSW on 16 October 2019, and the opposition from a certain set of locals who believe it will affect their livelihoods.
In January, the EAC had also sought details of the north-eastern portion of the site close to the high tide land that was being excluded, specifics of sand dunes which it wanted preserved, as well details of the patch of forest land between the proposed jetty and the plant. Amongst other additional information, JSW plans to reuse water recovered from iron ore slurry, and compensatory afforestation in lieu of the 1.3 lacs trees that would be felled had also been sought.
The project had been granted a Terms of References (TOR) valid for four years on 19 March 2019. The jetty has state level clearance and awaits an EC and Coastal Regulation Zone nod from the Centre. The slurry pipeline too has been granted a TOR in December of 2020.
– Inputs by Meera Mohanty
.jpg)
Leave a Reply