French cement giant Lafarge’s plans for setting up a Rs 1,000-crore unit in Meghalaya has run into a roadblock, with locals citing environmental hazards.
Lafarge wishes to set up a 1.1-million-tonne integrated cement unit in the limestone-rich Jaintia Hills. The project plan is at a preliminary stage and Lafarge is conducting technical and feasibility studies, to assess various parameters of the project, company sources said.
Yesterday, hundreds of people of the Nongkhlieh area, where the plant is proposed, foiled a move by officials of the district council to survey the area and warned against issuing any no-objection certificate (NOC) to the company.
Villagers with black flags and placards demonstrated, contending the proposed plant would degrade the environment and cause disharmony in the area. The district council officials had to return without doing the survey.
Sources said Lafarge already has an NOC from the Dorbar (traditional tribal village council) of Nongkhlieh village. Shouting slogans against the district council, the protesters also demanded resignation of the Dorbar chief for granting the NOC.
The French company’s existing limestone mining project in Meghalaya is also shut since February, following a Supreme Court order on a petition alleging violation of the constitutional provision against handing over tribal land.
