The Supreme Court has finally cleared South Korean steel major Posco's plans to set up a Rs 51,000 crore mega steel plant and captive minor port in Paradeep, Orissa.
A special environmental bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan allowed Posco India Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of Korea-based Posco, to go ahead with the project.
With this order, the apex court has also cleared forest diversion proposal for the plant site which require 1253.225 hectares of forest land.
The steel companies will not increase the prices of steel for the time being. The government of India was pressurizing the steel companies not the raise the steel prices to avoid further increase of inflation rate. Following the government pressure domestic steelmakers such as Tata, Essar, Ispat and JSW Steel have decided to hold the steel prices.
Essar Steel Holdings CEO J Mehra said that the company has decided not to raise the prices of steel as it also considers inflation as major problem for the nation. Steel and related steel products contribute about 21 per cent in inflation level.
Godawari Power and Ispat, an integrated steel manufacturer, has informed that it has received final approval from Government of India, Ministry of Environment & Forest for diversion of 106.60 hectare of Forest Land for Ari Dongri Iron Ore Mines in Bhanupratappur Forest Division in Kanker District of Chhattisgarh.