The three member joint committee headed by Mr Ashish Kothari on Saturday visited the proposed site of POSCO India's 12 million tonne steel plant in Orissa's Jagatsinghpur district and interacted with villagers to ascertain whether the Forest Right Act had been implemented.

The ministry of tribal affairs and ministry of environment and forest have formed a joint committee with Mr Arup Saikia and Mr Ravi Chellam besides Mr Kothari as members to inquire into the allegations of violation of Forest Right Act at the POSCO site.

The Jagatsinghpur district collector, Mr Narayana Jena told Fe that the team accompanied by the sub collector visited several villages falling under the proposed site on Saturday and spoke to the people.

The committee members, who arrived in the district on Friday, had a meeting with the district administration. The district collector said that "We have clarified that there is no violation of FRA."

Not a single tribal family resides in the proposed POSCO site. The four tribal families of Polang village under Gadakujanga gram panchyat are staying outside the proposed site. Jena added that the visiting committee was informed that there are no forest dwellers in the site as no villager, who claims to have living here since three decades, possesses any land record.

The MoEF had given clearance for diversion of 1235.2 hectares of forest land for the project. However, villagers of Dhinkia, Nuagoan and Gadakujanga gram panchyats petitioned the MoTA and the MoEF that the district administration had not implemented the FRA.

(Sourced from in.news.yahoo.com)