Vedanta to invest Rs 100cr in forest conservation

The Financial Express, July 3, 2007

BHUBANESWAR, JUL 3 : The Orissa government has demanded Rs 100 crore from Vedanta Resources for conservation of ecology in the Niyamgir hills. Out of this amount, Rs 42 crore will be spent on the wildlife in the area, where the Vedanta group's Sterlite Aluminium Ltd will mine for bauxite.
State steel and mines minister Padmanabha Behera told FE the latest in scientific technology would be used for mining of bauxite in the Niyamgir hills. Only 20 hectares will be allowed for mining at a time. Steps will be taken to plant 16 lakh trees under a compensatory afforestation programme. Around 50,000 trees could be affected due to mining activities.

Under a peripheral developmental project, Rs 12 crore will be spent for the betterment of the lives of 7000 tribals living in the surrounding 21 villages.

Sterlite Aluminium's alumina project received sharp criticism from the Opposition in the Orissa House on Tuesday. Congress's Lalatendu Bidyadhar Mohapatra, Narsingha Mishra and Satya Bhusan Sahu alleged the project would destroy the environment of the Kalahandi district. Interestingly, the ruling BJD-BJP's members representing Kalahandi district, Balabhadra Majhi, Bira Sipka, Dhaneswar

Majhi and Himansu Sekher Meher strongly defended the project, saying it will bring prosperity to the poverty-stricken district.

The steel and mines minister said Vedanta's alumina plant is not located on forestland. The mining in the Niyamgir forest area is yet to start as the state government has not received clearance from the Union minister for forest and environment. Behera, however, told the House that the Supreme Court is seized of the matter. The apex court has already received the reports of the Indian Wildlife Institute, Dehradun, and the CMPDI, Ranchi. The order of the Supreme Court is awaited, he said.