It has been alleged that in violation of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) specific permission to draw water only from Brahmani river/Samal Barrage, JSPL has been illegally drawing groundwater. The lowering water table has severely affected the nearby elephant habitat, leading to an increase in the incidents of man-animal conflict in nearby villages.
The company is setting up an integrated steel plant at Badkerjang in Angul district with 6 million tonne per annum capacity and a 1,000-MW captive plant at an investment of Rs 10,000 crore.
Environmentalist Biswajit Mohanty, also the secretary of Wildlife Society of Orissa (a member organisation of the National Board For Wildlife), has written to Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh and called for the withdrawal of environmental clearance for brazen flouting of the specific condition agreed upon with the MoEF. Alleging connivance of the State Government, he said officers who failed to inform the MoEF of the violations must be brought to book. Read the full report here.
Source: Moushumi Basu, The Pioneer, New Delhi.
