Glare on Vedanta’s state links

AMIT GUPTA

Ranchi, Aug. 25: A day after the Centre rejected Vedanta’s $1.7 billion project in Orissa, the group’s “illegal” procurement of bauxite — the main raw material for aluminum— from private miners in Jharkhand has come under the scanner of the Union ministry of environment and forests and the concerned department in the state.

The majority of 26 private lessees in Gumla and Lohardaga, who sell the ore to Vedanta and to Hindalco Industries Limited, are apparently operating without mandatory environmental clearance from the Union ministry.

This was revealed by environment minister Jairam Ramesh while speaking to reporters in Delhi yesterday. “There is no environment clearance for bauxite mining in Jharkhand,” he said.

Speaking to The Telegraph in Ranchi today, principal chief conservator of forests and chairman of Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board C.R. Sahay said a few of the private lessees who were supplying bauxite to Vedanta have applied for environmental clearance. “We are looking into the matter and will act accordingly,” he said.

Yesterday, the Union ministry withdrew the clearance given to Vedanta Resources to mine bauxite in Niyamgiri hills in Orissa. The action followed allegations of serious violation of the Environment Protection Act and the Forest Conservation and Rights Act as reported by the N.C. Saxena Committee.

Vedanta purchased as much as 1 lakh tonne bauxite from private lessees and through traders issued licences by district mining offices in Jharkhand in 2009-10 for supply to its existing aluminium unit in Orissa.

In 2007-08 and 2008-09 fiscals, Vedanta purchased about 75,000 tonne bauxite, said sources at Lohardaga district mining office.

If supply to the Anil Agarwal-owned group is stopped from Jharkhand in the near future due to the inability of private lessees to get environmental clearance, it would severely affect production in the company’s plant in Orissa.

The majority of these private lessees have been operating on rayati (private) and gair mazrua (government) land over the last two decades without proper papers. “Not a single one has got environmental clearance. Many of them have even not applied for one. Only a few of them are working with no-objection certificates from us,” regional officer of Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board Dilip Kumar told The Telegraph.

According to norms, any mining activity, even in non-forest areas, can only be carried out after obtaining environmental clearance from the Union ministry. Moreover, a mining plan should be approved by the Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM).

In Jharkhand, the mines and environment and forests departments seem to be working at cross-purposes. While private lessees are into the business of mining without environmental clearance, the district mining office collects revenue running into crores of rupees for every tonne of bauxite mined and exported, legally or illegally.

Ever since Vedanta entered Jharkhand in 2007-08, private lessees have been making a killing selling illegally mined bauxite. Earlier, the Aditya Birla Group-owned Hindalco Industries Limited, which owns 17 mines in Gumla, Lohardaga and neighbouring Latehar, enjoyed a virtual monopoly as the sole buyer.

Sources said obtaining environmental clearance requires an environmental impact assessment report prepared by experts. It also requires money and is a time consuming process, which is probably why private miners take the illegal route while enforcing agencies turn a blind eye in lieu of kickbacks.