Bhubaneswar:
The Orissa government has thrown its weight behind mining group Vedanta Aluminium Limited and has moved the Supreme Court against the Centre's ban on bauxite mining in the Niyamgiri Hills for the group's Rs 5,000-crore alumina refinery project at Lanjigarh in Kalahandi district of the state.
The state government's move came after the Jairam Ramesh-led Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) had on October 21 last year rejected Vedanta's proposal to start an $ 8.5 billion expansion of the refining capacity of its aluminium complex at the eco-sensitive Niyamgiri Hills.
The state government had allowed Vedanta to expand the refinery capacity to six million tonnes. The environment ministry later said that the group's refinery may be sourcing bauxite from mines without the requisite green clearances and asked Vedanta to justify why the permit for the refinery should not be cancelled.
The denial was based on the NC Saxena committee report which found violation of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, Environment Protection Act, 1966 and Forest Rights Act, 2006.
The ministry had recently also sent a notice to the London-based company, asking it to not begin any new construction at the site.
The ministry's notice followed a Supreme Court directive on February 25 asking Vedanta to shut down its lone copper smelter in the country in Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu for breaching environmental standards.
Vedanta, meanwhile, has a petition pending in the Orissa High Court against the ban on mining at the Niyamgiri hills.