Ministry clears, but green court blocks Lafarge

A court on Monday cancelled environment approval to French giant Lafarge’s cement plant in Himachal Pradesh on the ground that environmental ministry failed to take into account environmental and social concerns while approving the R900 crore project. Revoked project

Updated on: Sep 14, 2010, 01:29:25 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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A court on Monday cancelled environment approval to French giant Lafarge’s cement plant in Himachal Pradesh on the ground that environmental ministry failed to take into account environmental and social concerns while approving the R900 crore project.

It is first time the National Environment Appellate Authority (NEAA) has cancelled environment clearance to the firm.

Before the apex court delivers its final view, the authority dealt a severe blow to the firm saying “it is convinced that it is neither desirable to mine Telehan village not put up cement plant in Ghanger (both in Karsog area of Himachal’s Mandi district),” authority member G.C. Kala said, in his order after visiting the site in June 2010.

The environment ministry’s Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) had cleared the project in June 2009, two years after state government’s approval.

However, the locals filed an appeal challenging the clearance. “Both EAC and the ministry have not correctly assessed the impact of the project on land, water and air,” the order delivered on Monday said.

A Lafarge spokesperson refuted allegations on violating environment norms saying it had always acted in good faith and remains committed to the compliance of all environment laws.

Contrary to company claims, Kala found that incorrect information was provided to obtain clearance. The first instance was the distance between Majathal Wildlife Sanctuary and the project site. The firm said it was more than 10 km away whereas the authority found it was less than 5 km.

“Discussions with chief wildlife warden reveal the plant is bound to create disturbances to the animals,” the order read.

The firm had also told the authority that the mining area was not cultivable land but the claim was found to be “untrue”.

Kala also questioned the way clearance was given. “The dispossession, impoverishment and trauma attached to displacement have neither been captured by the Environment Impact Assessment nor appreciated by the EAC or the state.”

Lafarge’s limestone mining project in Meghalaya is already under apex court scanner for alleged violations of the Forest Conservation Act.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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