Govt to reject Vedanta refinery expansion

The Environment Ministry blocked Vedantas mining project in the Niyamgiri hills of Orissa.

The Environment Ministry which blocked Vedantas mining project in the Niyamgiri hills of Orissa has now ruled that the companys plan to expand its adjoining alumina refinery in Lanjhigarh is also in violation of existing laws.

Sources said the Ministry is all set to tell the company that its ongoing six-fold expansion of the refinery from an annual capacity of 1 million tonnes to 6 million tonnes cannot be allowed because the requisite environmental clearances had not been obtained.

Even the existing operating facility of 1 million tonnes was in violation of forest laws and corrective action would be needed,officials in the Environment Ministry claimed.

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Incidentally,this refinery and the bauxite mining project at Niyamgiri hills were originally part of the same integrated project. The bauxite mined from Niyamgiri was to be processed at the refinery.

While the mining project was embroiled in environmental clearances ultimately being blocked in August last year a stand-alone clearance was given to the refinery for an annual capacity of 1 million tonnes and with bauxite imported from other mines.

The refinery has been operating at full capacity since 2007 with support of a 75 MW captive power plant. The bauxite was being shipped from Chhattisgarh,Gujarat and Tamil Nadu,among other states.

The same year,the company applied for environmental clearance for the six-fold expansion of both the refinery as well as the captive power plant.

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But even as the application was being processed,the company started construction work on the expansion plan for which it came under heavy fire from an expert committee headed by retired bureaucrat N C Saxena whose recommendation had also blocked the Niyamgiri mining project.

The latest decision comes after a consideration of Vedantas reply to a show-cause notice issued to it by the Environment Ministry in August this year asking why its refinery expansion should not be disallowed.

Vedanta had given a detailed reply and its officials had also made a personal appearance at the Environment Ministry to explain their side.