Indian Environmental Authorities Revoke Clearance for Lafarge Cement Project

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--French cement giant Lafarge SA (EPA:LG) (Paris, France) has run into problems, as Indian environmental authorities have revoked the clearance granted to the company's $200 million greenfield cement manufacturing project in north India.

The National Environment Appellate Authority (NEAA) has overturned the approval given to Lafarge for its plant in Himachal Pradesh's Mandi district.

The NEAA judgment came after NEAA Chairman J.C. Kala visited the plant site and heard grievances of the local people that face displacement.

Environmentalists fighting for the rights of the people that will be affected by the project felt that the NEAA's judgment showed that the "dispossession, impoverishment and trauma attached to displacement have neither been captured by the environment impact assessment, nor appreciated by the expert appraisal committee or the state government of Himachal Pradesh."

In 2006, the Himachal Pradesh government approved the proposal by Lafarge, which would have entailed construction of a cement plant with an annual capacity of 3 million tons and attached limestone mines.

The NEAA judgment noted that the Environment and Forests Ministry, while granting environmental clearance in June 2009, ignored the fact that the project would affect the wildlife of the Majathal Wildlife Sanctuary, which is located less than 5 kilometers from the project site.

"The authority is convinced that on environmental and social considerations, it is neither desirable to mine Telehan village, nor put up a cement plant at Ghanger. Both the environmental impact assessment and the ministry have not correctly assessed the impact of the project on land, water and air, and failed to appreciate its effects on the livelihood of the people of the area," said the NEEA.

The panel also noted that only 16 out of 381 landowners had given their consent and that the project would create "dispossession, impoverishment and trauma" to locals.

The NEAA is the only judicial body in the country allowed to hear grievances against environmental clearances given to projects by the Environment and Forests Ministry.

A spokesperson for Lafarge said that the company was not violating environmental norms or disturbing ecological balance in the area. "A detailed impact study with respect to air, water, soil, noise and socioeconomic components was undertaken within a 10-kilometer radius of the proposed project site and necessary safeguards provided," the spokesperson said.

The snub to the French cement giant by Indian environmental authorities to deny clearance to an industrial project is the second such occurrence within a month. The move came amidst controversies surrounding the Indian government's industrialization drive, which critics say was being done at the cost of poor villagers forced to give up their land for a pittance.

In August, India's environmental ministry struck down a proposed open-cast mine in Orissa by Vedanta (LSE:VED) (London, England), despite strong lobbying by a section of politicians including Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who felt the project would have given the boost for industrialization to the state.

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