New Delhi: Vedanta on Wednesday submitted a reply to the Ministry of Environment and Forest in response to a showcause notice filed by the environment ministry inquiring why the plant should not be shut down for violating environment laws.
The Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh had on August 31 issued a showcase notice to Vedanta and had also stated that if a reply did not come within 30 days the plant would have to be shut down.
Vedanta has been accused by the Ministry of Environment and Forest for not taking consent of the tribals under the Forest Rights Act for violations of conditions under Environment Protection Act and violations under Forest Conservation Act by taking over community forest land without the permission of the tribal population residing in the area.
Vedanta in its reply on Wednesday has stated that it has documentary proof that no violations were made, that they do not plan to quit Orissa and are in fact looking at sourcing bauxite from Gujarat to keep their refinery running at Kalahandi Orissa.
Vedanta also stated that Orissa accounts for 70 per cent of the country’s bauxite reserves with nearly 3000 million tones of bauxite. And if an aluminium plant cannot operate out of the state then it can’t anywhere else in the country.
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