The Centre has widened the ambit of the Meena Gupta panel looking into Korean giant Posco's steel project in Orissa by mandating it to review compliance status of the Environmental Protection Act at the site. The move comes just a couple of days after Patnaik met prime minister who has assured of a speedy clearance to the Rs 54,000 crore project in Orissa's Jagatsinghpur district since it attracts country's largest FDI.

With the new mandates, the deadline for the four-member panel headed by the ex-environment secretary to submit its report to environment ministry has been pushed by a month to 28 September.