Dikhyaa Mohanty 
The environmental clearance (EC) given to the Sajjan Jindal-owned JSW Steel near the Odisha port of Paradip has been stopped by a four-member panel of the National Green Tribunal (NGT). The EC was put on hold by the panel led by justice Adarsh Kumat Goel because, among other things, the cumulative Environment Impact Assessment (EIA), the assessment of whether it is appropriate to draw water from the Mahanadi River, and the social impact assessment carried out after the public hearing were not taken into account.
The EC will stay suspended until the union environment ministry completes a new evaluation over the next three months, according to the NGT. After the Expert Assessment Committee’s suggestion, the ministry granted environmental approval to the 13.2 million tonnes per year integrated steel project, valued at 65,000 crore, in April of last year (EAC).
Local political figures and people of Dhinkia and surrounding villages have also opposed the idea with protests. The Korean steel goliath Posco was given the property where the factory is being built, but the project never got off the ground because objections over land acquisition prompted the business to give it up in 2017, over 13 years after it signed an Agreement with the Odisha government.
This year, environmentalists Prafulla Samantra and Sarita Barapanda filed a petition with the NGT contesting the EC grant to the steel project, claiming that the EAC’s evaluation was flawed both administratively and substantively. In addition to increasing pollution in the region and reducing forest cover, the petitioners claimed that using water from the Mahanadi River, a significant source of water supply for the locals, would have a significant negative impact on the flora and fauna in an eco-sensitive area.
The Environmental Assessment Committee’s (EAC) recommendation for the project’s environmental clearance had several problems, according to the bench that heard the case over several months, including the publication of a cumulative Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) after the public hearing ended.
