After Gauhati HC questioned 3,000 bigha allotment to cement company in Assam’s tribal district, state responds: Don’t want to drive away investment

Arguing that the aspect of environmental impact will be addressed by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest at a later stage after the company submits a DPR (Detailed Project Report), AG Saikia cited the Assam government’s mega investment summit, Advantage Assam 2.0, held earlier this year and said that the state is concerned about the impact this matter would have on investors who have signed MoUs with the government.

JK Lakshmi Cement, the parent company of Mahabal Cement Private Limited, which has been allotted these 3,000 bighas of land, had signed an MoU for Rs 11,000 crore to develop a greenfield cement project.

“This will have an impact on the investors. We want investors to come and invest in Assam so that these same places which were infested with extremist elements, we want to improve the economic condition… We do not want to stall economic development. Not only of NC Hills (Dima Hasao) but for the whole of Assam. The ceiling act is not applicable here. The NC hills authority (the North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council, the 6th schedule autonomous council in the district) has the full authority to give the land, and 3,000 bighas is a peanut, if it is considering the investment worth 11,000 crore. If the 11,000 crores investor goes away, for some whimsical reasons, that will be a sad day for the state of Assam,” Saikia said in court.

On August 12, during a hearing on two petitions concerning this allotment, including one by a set of locals alleging that they are being evicted from their land for the purpose, Justice Medhi had questioned why “such a huge chunk of land” had been allotted to a private company in a region under the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution. The second petition had been filed earlier this year by the company, seeking protection from “disturbances created by local villagers” in construction work. The video of the proceedings had been widely circulated.

AG Saikia said that the state government constituted a three-member committee on August 21, comprising officials from the Public Works Department, the Directorate of Geology and Mining, and the Assam Industrial Development Corporation. The report compares the size of the allotted land to other cement plants in different parts of the country with similar production capacity, such as another JK Lakshmi Cement plant in Rajasthan’s Sirohi district (2,844 bighas). It states that the company told the committee that 1,020 of the 3,000 bighas are for an environmental green belt, and that apart from the plant infrastructure, land is required to develop a solar plant project, truck parking, rail siding, roads, and a township for over 5,000 employees.

After hearing the submissions, Justice Medhi emphasised concerns about the environmental impact, which he said the report “does not touch on”. In response, AG Saikia argued that it is “not the domain” of the state government, and the project is at a “premature stage” for this aspect, which would be examined by the Centre at a “later stage”.

“In the fitness of things, this court is of the opinion that the petitioners in both these writ petitions should be given a chance to respond to the affidavit filed today by the state. Two weeks’ time is granted to file a rejoinder affidavit,” states the order issued in the matter by Justice Medhi, also noting that the AG would file an affidavit on behalf of the NCHAC.

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