Bhubaneshwar: Orissa government on Monday said it would "positively" respond to the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) by end of February on the Posco issue, official sources said.
"We will positively reply the MoEF by February end on status of implementation of Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006 at the proposed plant site villages of Posco," chief secretary BK Patnaik told reporters in Bhubaneshwar.
Stating that the Jagatsinghpur district collector had already submitted his report on the FRA status in Dhinkia area near Paradip, the chief secretary said that the schedule tribe and scheduled caste department had already studied the report.
The Department of Forest and Environment would soon send the state government's views on the FRA to the ministry, he said.
MoEF which accorded conditional clearance to Posco project on January 31, had sought the state government's assurance that the FRA was being properly implemented at the proposed plant site villages.
The state government which had been maintaining that there was no tribal habitation at the proposed plant site villages, also claimed that no forest dweller resided at the place in the past 75 years.
Meanwhile, the state government had started preliminary preparation for beginning land acquisition work at the plant site villages.
Comments
0 comment