Violence had marred the acquisition yesterday following allegations of police crackdown on opponents.
Sharma agrees to expedite the Odisha project; offers clarity to Tesco on sourcing norms; to meet Etihad delegation.
The finance minister is out attracting investment in the country but in absence of a land acquisition policy; foreign investment will continue to suffer as it did in case of Posco and Vedanta.
Villagers have stepped up protests at the Posco steel project site in Orissa's Jagatsinghpur district.
The land was being acquired by officials of the district administration, departments of revenue and forest and Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation.
Work at the proposed Posco steel project site in Orissa's Jagatsinghpur district was suspended for the third consecutive day on Monday due to protests by villagers over felling of trees.
However, the minister did not specify a time frame under which the land transfer will be completed.
The villagers who support the Posco project had also invited Ramesh to visit the proposed plant site to assess the truth behind their rivals' claim about the Rs 52,000 crore (Rs 520 billion) mega steel plant.
Patnaik said the prime minister assured him on the Polavaram dam project in Andhra Pradesh, saying that none of the tribal villages in Orissa would be submerged.
Over 80 personnel from the Jagatsinghpur district administration and Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation were engaged for the land verification work conducted with the help of global positioning system.
Giving a patient hearing to woes of tribals in Jharsuguda in Orissa, Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday asserted that people affected by the Posco steel project must get justice, proper compensation and rehabilitation.
Though the fate of the Rs 51,000-crore (Rs 510-billion) project hangs in balance after a four-member Forest Advisory Council filed a split report on withholding environment clearance, people in this coastal village, the hotbed of the resistance movement, are worried about getting displaced.
Orissa can now divert forest land for the steel project.
The much-delayed $12 billion Posco steel project in Odisha is set to be operational in the next few weeks and granting of mining concession to the South Korean firm was in an advanced stage of processing, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Thursday.
Last month, the FAC passed the buck to the tribal affairs ministry to see if the project proponents violated any tribal rights.
The role of Meena Hembram and 20 others came to limelight after the Meena Gupta panel, which submitted its reports to the union Ministry of Environment and Forest on October 18, pointed out that there were seven tribal families living in villages demarcated to house the 12 mtpa steel mill.
The Orissa government on Tuesday rejected the demand to scrap Posco's steel project, saying the Rs 51,000-crore (Rs 510 billion) project could contribute 11.5 per cent to the state's gross domestic products in terms of value addition.
The comments come amid strong political protests against land acquisition by global steel majors Posco and ArcelorMittal, whose much-touted multi billion dollar projects are still awaiting ground-breaking.
The government is believed to be working on a strategy to resolve the matter related to Wednesday's Supreme Court order asking Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee to appear within six weeks before the Ghaziabad trial court in a pending payment case.
The Commerce Ministry earlier this week commissioned a study to assess the impact of free trade agreement with South Korea, with which India had a trade deficit of about $9 billion in 2012-13.
The government is working to expedite clearances to $12 billion project of steel major Posco in Odisha that was awarded environment clearance last week, Commerce and Indutry Minister Anand Sharma said on Tuesday.
Under the India-South Korea Bipa, a party can drag the other to international arbitration if its investments are threatened.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye's visit to India will enhance economic and military ties between the two countries and give the relationship a strategic dimension, says Jiye Kim.
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