Jindal plant in Orissa served notice

The environment ministry has threatened to revoke the environment clearance for Jindal’s integrated steel and power plant in Angul, Orissa, for starting construction work at the site without seeking mandatory forest clearance.

The environment ministry has threatened to revoke the environment clearance for Jindal’s integrated steel and power plant in Angul, Orissa, for starting construction work at the site without seeking mandatory forest clearance.

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The Jindal Steel and Power Limted (JSPL) spokesperson said there was no violation of environment norms and both environment and forest clearance had been granted. “The construction done was for keeping the equipment and not for the plant,” he said.

This is the third project of the company owned by Congress MP Naveen Jindal to have come under the ministry’s scrutiny. The ministry had earlier issued notices to its projects in Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra for alleged environment violations.

In this notice, the ministry pointed out that environment nod to the project was on the condition that no construction will start at the site till approval is obtained under the Forest Conservation Act.

The total land required for the project was 2,160 hectares, out of which 168 hectares was forest land and environment clearance for the project was given in February 2007.

The ministry’s action is a fall-out of a show-cause notice issued last year by the division forest officer, Angul Forest Division, who had pointed out the violation of the FC Act, 1980, as work had started on non-forest land prior to clearance.