NEW DELHI: After the high-profile cases of Vedanta and Posco, yet another industrial project in Orissa has fallen foul of the Union Environment Ministry, but this time it's Jindal Steel and Power – headed by Congress MP Naveen Jindal – that has been slapped with a show-cause notice.
According to the notice issued on November 22, Jindal's integrated steel and power plant project in Angul is guilty of violating the terms of its environmental clearance by beginning construction before obtaining a forest clearance.
The six million tonnes per annum integrated steel plant and 1,000 megawatt captive power plant were granted an environmental clearance on February 22, 2007. Since 168 hectares of forest land were required to be diverted for the project, the Ministry gave the environmental clearance only with the condition that no construction activity on the project site should be initiated until the forest approvals were also granted.
However, in July 2009, the Angul division's forest officer issued a notice alleging that construction work had begun for a storage godown, the foundations for a power plant and stockyard plant mill, and for roads, all in the non-forest land of the project site.
The company has now been given 15 days to explain why the Ministry should not revoke its environmental clearance.
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