ABHIJIT ROY CHOWDHURY
NEW DELHI: In a sever blow to Vedanta’s Aluminium Refinery plant based at Lanjigarh district of Khalandi,the Ministry of Environment and Forest on Thursday in its fresh order has cancelled expansion of Alumina Refinery from 1 MTPA to 6MTPA and 75MW Captive Power Plant to 300 MW Captive Power Plant.
The ministry in its order has also directed the conpany to maintain status quo at the site and no further construction shall be undertaken in respect of expansion project.
The order also ask the Secretary, Ministry of Environment Department, Orissa government to take leagl action under the provision of environment (Protection) Act, for the violation of Environment Impact Assessment (EIA).
The environment ministry has also imposed un-revocable Bank Gurantee on the 1 MTPA, Aluminium Refinery and 75 MW captive Power Plant, for an amount of Rs 10 crores valid for aperiod of three years within 15 days to the State Polution Control Board (SPCB), Orissa for implementation of all environment protection act.
The four member committee headed by Dr NC Saxena on Aug 16 had strongly recommended for the cancellation of the project for violating all forest norms.