The Telegraph (Kolkata), June 8, 2009
OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
Bhubaneswar, June 7: London-based Vedanta Resources will start its controversial Niyamgiri (bauxite) mining project in Kalahandi soon.
Chairman of the Vedanta Resources Anil Agrawal, who met chief minister Naveen Patnaik last night, told reporters: “We are going to start with the Niyamgiri project soon and have received the environment and stage-I forest clearances. We are now waiting for the stage-II clearance. The mining project will start soon after that.”
Earlier, the Centre had accorded stage-I forest clearance to the company on December 2008 with 32 conditions and 16 general stipulations, that the company complied with.
It also deposited Rs 121 crore with the state government for compensatory afforestation and forest management and peripheral development measures. On April 28, 2009, the Centre also gave an environmental clearance to the project.
Vedanta Resources have already started on an 1MT alumina refinery at Lanjigarh in Kalahandi through group company Vedanta Aluminium Limited. For the refinery, the company was granted Niyamgiri bauxite mines.
Initially, the mining project was opposed by Dangaria Kandha (tribal group) and environmentalists alike who stated that the project would destroy the hill’s eco-system. But, the Supreme Court gave a go-ahead to the project in 2008 with certain riders.
Vedanta has also set up a .25MT aluminium smelter with a 675MW captive generating plant at Jharsuguda. It also submitted a proposal to expand the capacity of an alumina refinery from 1MT to 5MT and that of the smelter from .5MT to 1.6MT.
However, the proposal was rejected by the single window clearance committee of the government recently. But, Agrawal is not ready to give up as yet. “We are working with the process and hope that the issues will be resolved. We hope to start world-class business opportunities at Lanjigarh and Jharsuguda,” he said.
The group’s chairman also said that construction for the proposed Vedanta University near Puri would also start soon. “The chief minister is keen on starting the extension centre and set up a burn & trauma centre at Bhubaneswar. We have agreed to it”, he said. “Our company will also support the metal park proposed to be set up at Angul by Nalco,” said Agrawal.
Apart from these projects, the company is also starting a malaria eradication project, a midday meal project for 30,000 schoolchildren and 1,000 anganwadi centres for 20,000 children in Kalahandi, said Agrawal.
He said that the company had taken a conscious decision to go ahead with Orissa projects involving Rs 50,000 crore investment, despite the economic slowdown. “We have invested (approximately) Rs 25,000 crore in the Orissa projects,” he added.
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