<p>The ministry termed the objections raised by the villagers of Dhinkia and Gobindpur as illegal after the Orissa government categorically proved that not only a handful of villagers signed those two resolutions —flaunted by green activists as a mark of proof of strong local objections against the Posco project — but they are downright fake documents. <br /><br />Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said he would go by the Orissa government’s version because “faith and trust in what the state government says is an essential pillar of cooperative federalism.”<br /><br />“Beyond a point, the bona fides of a democratically elected state government cannot always be questioned by the Centre,” he said. Incidentally Ramesh had a meeting with Orissa Chief Minister Navin Patnaik on April 30 in Bhubaneswar.<br /><br />The future of India’s biggest foreign direct investment project, a key component of the government’s Look East policy, was in limbo since mid-April when Ramesh put a pause on the project. The Posco project received a conditional forest clearance in January.<br /><br />The pause was ordered on the basis of petitions submitted by the villagers of Dhinkia and Gobindpur alleging that their legal rights under the Forest Rights Act, 2006, have not been settled by the state.<br /><br />But according to fresh documents provided by the state, out of 3,445 voters of Dhinkia only 69 signed the Palli Sabha resolution of February 21 that opposed the Posco project. Similarly, in case of Gobindpur, out of 1,907 voters only 64 signed. None of the resolutions, therefore, are representative in character.<br /><br />The 60 conditions imposed on Posco would ensure that the steel plant and captive port would not be ecologically damaging and destructive to the livelihood of local people, he said.</p>
<p>The ministry termed the objections raised by the villagers of Dhinkia and Gobindpur as illegal after the Orissa government categorically proved that not only a handful of villagers signed those two resolutions —flaunted by green activists as a mark of proof of strong local objections against the Posco project — but they are downright fake documents. <br /><br />Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said he would go by the Orissa government’s version because “faith and trust in what the state government says is an essential pillar of cooperative federalism.”<br /><br />“Beyond a point, the bona fides of a democratically elected state government cannot always be questioned by the Centre,” he said. Incidentally Ramesh had a meeting with Orissa Chief Minister Navin Patnaik on April 30 in Bhubaneswar.<br /><br />The future of India’s biggest foreign direct investment project, a key component of the government’s Look East policy, was in limbo since mid-April when Ramesh put a pause on the project. The Posco project received a conditional forest clearance in January.<br /><br />The pause was ordered on the basis of petitions submitted by the villagers of Dhinkia and Gobindpur alleging that their legal rights under the Forest Rights Act, 2006, have not been settled by the state.<br /><br />But according to fresh documents provided by the state, out of 3,445 voters of Dhinkia only 69 signed the Palli Sabha resolution of February 21 that opposed the Posco project. Similarly, in case of Gobindpur, out of 1,907 voters only 64 signed. None of the resolutions, therefore, are representative in character.<br /><br />The 60 conditions imposed on Posco would ensure that the steel plant and captive port would not be ecologically damaging and destructive to the livelihood of local people, he said.</p>
