Javadekar to discuss green clearances with Odisha officials

Reported by Chinmaya Dehury

Bhubaneswar, July 3:

Union Minister for Environment and Forest Prakash Javadekar, who is scheduled to visit Odisha on Friday to oversee the election of the BJP legislature party leader, will discuss with state officials various issues, including bottlenecks holding up environment and forest clearances to industrial projects in Odisha.

According to government sources, Javadekar will discuss the problems in getting clearances for projects in the state with forest and environment officials at the state guest house here.

Javadekar, who is also Information and Broad Casting Minister, will also hold talks with I & PR officials of the state.

The Minister will later visit Puri to take the blessings of the Trinity at the Shree Gundicha Temple.

The BJP leader, who has been appointed as observer for the election of the party leader in the Assembly, will oversee the election at the party office here tomorrow.

The election of BJPLP leader was postponed following the busy schedule of Javadekar. The meeting was originally scheduled to be held on June 11.

Presently, the state unit president and Patnagarh MLA KV Singhdeo is holding the post .

There are speculations that the party MLAs may elect either Dillip Ray or Basant Panda to lead them in the state Assembly. However, Ray seems to be the frontrunner, considering his stature and experience  both as a Union Minister and MLA earlier, said party sources.