November 21, 2008

SC asks POSCO to approach Orissa for mines

PTI reported that Supreme Court has asked POSCO to approach Orissa government for allotting demarcated mining area for its proposed INR 51,000 crore mega steel plant.

As per report, a special environmental bench headed by chief justice Mr KG Balakrishnan asked POSCO India Private Limited to approach the state to execute lease for a captive and demarcated mine.

However, it was not convinced with POSCO's counsel Mr Mukul Rohtagi's argument that state government owned Orissa Mining Corporation had agreed to supply uninterrupted iron ore and other minerals for its 12 million tonne steel project.

Mr Rohtagi said that "There is a tie up with OMC to give raw materials. The mines are not earmarked. This way the project will take 5 years to come up. The mines which have been identified are 300 kilometer away from the project site."

Senior counsel Mr Harish Salve, who is assisting the court in the matter, said that "The POSCO's huge plant would involve a large land as it would need huge quantity of raw material."

Mr Salve cited the Vedanta Alumina case in Lanjigarh, which also faced the problem of raw material after setting up the project. Despite being commissioned, the plant was idle for the past more than 6 months due to environmental clearance for its mine.