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Journalism of Courage
The Environment Ministry’s role is under a cloud after the Supreme Court-appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC) recommended revocation of its clearance for Vedanta Aluminium’s Rs 4,000-crore Alumina refinery project in Orissa’s Kalahandi.
The committee has slammed the ‘‘haste’’ with which the Ministry allowed the Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd subsidiary to continue with the project despite being alerted that a forest clearance proposal was still pending. The Ministry had cleared the firm’s refinery project though the mines venture, which is closely linked, was awaiting an OK.
The panel’s three-member fact-finding team said: ‘‘Why environmental clearance for the refinery site has been granted by the Ministry without the clearance of the mining site is not understood.’’
It noted that the Environment Wing had not taken any action though the Orissa government had informed on November 24, 2004 that the project involved over 58 hectares of forest land.
The report also indicted Sterlite for obtaining enviromental clearance for the project by concealing that over 50 hectares of forest land was involved, and the state government for not doing enough to bring the factual position to the Ministry’s notice.
The refinery, with a capacity of one million tonnes, was to come up at Lanjgarh with the basic raw material, bauxite (3 million tonnes annually), proposed to be sourced from the nearby Niyamgiri Hills. Land required for the alumina refinery was 723 hectares and for the mines 721 hectares.
After preliminary work, Sterlite transferred the project for implementation to Vedanta—the Ministry cleared the project on September 22, 2004.
However, environmentalists protested that the project would damage the ecology of the Niyamgiri forests, home to the indigenous Kondh tribals. For parched Kalahandi, Niyamgiri was also a perennial source of water.
What the CEC’s fact-finding team found:
• Vedanta has taken up construction of the refinery without getting clearance under Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 for 58.93 hectares of forest land, which is an integral part of project.
• Rehabilitation for those displaced is not in the interest of sustainable livelihood of the local communities.
• Niyamgiri is very rich from the bio-diversity point of view. Any mining activity is bound to destroy it and affect availability of water.
• Appropriate action should be taken against the company for clearing village forest land in violation of Forest Conservation Act and clearing the trees without proper sanction.
In a letter to the Ministry on March 2, 2005, the CEC took up the question of involvement of forest land and asked it not to grant clearance till a report was filed in the Supreme Court. A day later, Vedanta informed the Ministry that forest land was involved. It was then that the panel noticed the Ministry’s ‘‘haste’’:
March 23: Ministry issues ‘‘stop work order’’ and directs that further work shall be undertaken only after FC Act clearance.
March 24: Vedanta writes to Ministry clarifying that the project will be implemented without forest land
March 27: Orissa government backs the move and, despite it being a Sunday, recommends withdrawal of forest clearance proposal.
March 28: Ministry agrees to withdrawal of proposal and withdraws ‘‘stop work’’ order.
