The Orissa government on Friday cleared the proposal of South Korean steel major Posco to set up a 12 million tonne steel project to be located at Paradip, official sources said.The proposal was discussed at a meeting of the project clearing authority here tonight where the Rs 52,000 crore project was given the go ahead, the sources said. If the project fructifies, it would be the largest single foreign direct investment in the country.The meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, stipulated that export of iron ore by the company would be allowed only against import of equal amount. The company had asked for 600 million tonnes of iron ore, the sources said.Meanwhile, even as decks are being cleared for the deal to be signed on June 22, the CPM and CPI, along with the Orissa opposition parties met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to oppose the mega project.Though billed by Patnaik as a project which would generate huge direct and indirect employment in his state, the Left parties are opposing on the grounds that it would lead to ‘‘plundering of the state’s precious iron ore reserves’’.Contending that the company was seeking three to four times the iron ore as compared with what was required for a plant of 3 million tonne capacity, CPM MP Basudev Acharya, who attended the meeting with the PM today, said, ‘‘The company (Posco) has approved a plant of only 3 million tonne capacity, but they are asking for raw material for a 12 million tonne capacity plant. We made it quite clear that we cannot allow plundering of our resources for this kind of export unit.’’
