Vedanta to receive 'Golden Peacock Environment Management Award - 2009’

Orissadiary.com, June 1, 2009

Report by Orissadiary correspondent; Bhubaneswar: Adding another feather to its cap, Vedanta Aluminium, Lanjigarh has been selected as the winner of the prestigious 'Golden Peacock Environment Management Award - 2009’, instituted by the World Environment Foundation (WEF) in association with Institute of Directors in 1991. The selection for the award has been done by a Jury, headed by Justice P N Bhagwati, former Chief Justice of India and Member, UN Human Rights Commission.

The award recognizes the Vedanta’s efforts in terms of effective implementation of environment management system and setting high standards in its management. Vedanta Alumina refinery is the first Alumina Refinery in the country to become the Zero Discharge Refinery. Through the recycling process , utilization of 100% treated or untreated effluents within the plant have reduced the dependency on external source of water to a greater extent.

Congratulating employees of VAL, Lanjigarh, Dr. Mukesh Kumar, Chief Operating Officer said, “The award is a result of the hard efforts put in by all our employees and we shall dedicate ourselves to make this refinery as the model refinery in the world in terms of Environment Protection and Management.” The award will be presented at special Gala Awards Nite during the Global Convention on Climate Change, 13 June 2009 at Palampur (Himachal Pradesh). The Awards ceremony is also a part of Global Convention on Climate Security being held on 12-14 June 2009 at the same venue.

Vedanta Aluminium Limited (VAL) has set up a 1 MTPA Greenfield Alumina Refinery backed with Captive Power Plant of 90 MW at Lanjigarh, Kalahandi (Orissa).

It has adopted benchmarked technology with best operational practices and superior environment management practices in order to develop the Alumina Refinery as one of the world’s premier Alumina refining complex. Recently, it has obtained ISO 14001 certification, which is an internationally accepted standard for effective Environmental Management System (EMS) to reduce environmental impact on water, air, land etc.