 "Anil Agarwal")
Anil Agarwal-promoted Vedanta Ltd quietly lobbied the government for diluting key environmental regulations related to the oil
and mining industries during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) alleged in a new report on Friday.
OCCRP’s report on Vedanta came a day after the US-based non-profit media organisation published an article on the Adani group, alleging that hundreds of millions of dollars were invested in publicly traded Adani stocks through Mauritius-based “opaque” investment funds by associates of the promoter family. The Adani group had denied the allegations.
According to the latest report, Agarwal sought policy changes to allow mining companies to boost production by up to 50 per cent without having to secure new environmental clearances.
The report claimed that Agarwal, in a letter to then environment minister Prakash Javadekar in January 2021, wrote: “Apart from immediately boosting production and economic growth, this will generate huge revenue for the government and create massive jobs.” OCCRP said Agarwal also recommended that the change could be made with a simple notification.
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In a statement, a Vedanta spokesperson did not accept or refute the allegations. “We operate with an objective of import substitution by enhancing domestic production in a sustainable manner. In view of the same, continuous representations are submitted for consideration to the government in the best interest of national development and India's march towards self-reliance in natural resources,” the spokesperson said.
According to Vedanta’s sustainability report for FY23, the company reported nil spending under lobbying or interest representation in the last four financial years.
Further, the company disclosed, Rs 1,550 million were spent towards local, regional or national political campaigns, organisations or candidates in FY23, Rs 1,230 million in FY22, nil in FY21 and Rs 1,140 million in FY20.
The OCCRP report said that after receiving Agarwal’s letter, “Javadekar quickly got to work. ‘VIMP [Very Important],’ he scribbled on the letter, directing the secretary of his ministry and the director general of forestry to ‘discuss [the] policy issue’”.
There was no official statement from the ministry of environment, forest and climate change at the time of going to press.
Vedanta has combined resources and reserves of 460 million tonnes of zinc and 856 million ounces of silver in India, according to the company disclosures.
The OCCRP report also alleged that Vedanta’s oil division — Cairn Oil & Gas — lobbied to scrap public hearings for oil exploration projects. “As with mining, the government quietly amended the law with no public consultation. Since then, at least six of Cairn’s oil projects in the northern deserts of Rajasthan have been greenlit for development,” it alleged.
In oil and gas, Vedanta has 1,156 mmboe (million barrels of oil equivalent) gross, proved, and probable reserves and resources, according to the company filings.
