In a reiteration of its earlier stand, Vedanta Aluminium Limited (VAL) has stated before the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) that it has not violated any regulatory norms at the site of its alumina refinery at Lanjigarh in south Orissa's Kalahandi district.
The company was today called for personal hearing by the ministry where it submitted the supporting documents.
"Our meeting with the MoEF continued for about two hours and we submitted many supporting documents. Earlier, in our response to the showcause notice to the ministry, we had submitted all the documentary proof to the ministry denying all regulatory violations at the site of the company's alumina refinery project at Lanjigarh. The supporting documents included receipts of royalty and excise duty paid by VAL. We also informed the ministry on our refinery expansion work and the measures taken by the company for the peripheral development of the area”, Mukesh Kumar, chief operating officer of VAL told Business Standard.
Asked if the company got any assurance from the ministry in favour of the project, he said, “We have not got any such assurance from the ministry.”
VAL had submitted is reply to the MoEF on September 15. This was in response to the showcause notice served by the ministry on the company on August 31 for carrying out work on capacity expansion of its alumna refinery from one million tonne per annum (mtpa) to six mtpa and that of its Captive Power Plant (CPP) at the same location from 75 MW to 300 MW without prior environmental clearance.
It may be noted that the National Environment Appellate Authority (NEAA) in its order dated September 15 had asked the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) to revisit the environmental clearance given to the bauxite mining project of VAL at Niyamgiri hills, close to the site of its alumina refinery at Lanjigarh.
In its showcause notice to the company dated August 31, the MoEF had questioned as to why the environmental clearance accorded to the company's refinery project on September 22, 2004 should not be revoked and direction for closure of the one mtpa refinery should not be issued.
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It had asked the company to respond to the showcause notice within 15 days.
The notice apprehended that the unregulated expansion of the refinery could cause long-term ecological and environmental impacts due to fugitive emissions and environmental impacts due to fugitive emissions including mercury, generation of red mud beyond the approved activities.