Indian SC order may hit Lafarge plant at Chhatak
An order by the India's Supreme Court to halt limestone mining by Lafarge in the country's north-eastern state of Meghalaya may hit production at the French cement giant's 255 million US dollars state-of-the-art Bangladesh plant at Chhatak in Sunamganj district, reports bdnews24.com.
A three-judge bench of India's apex court headed by chief justice K G Balakrishnan passed the order to temporarily halt limestone mining by Lafarge Umiam Mining Private Limited (LUMPL) at Nongtrai in East Khasi Hills district of Meghalaya.
However, the court order will not immediately halt production at the LSCL Chhatak plant as it has allowed the LUMPL to export the already mined limestone lying at its site in Meghalaya to the plant across the India-Bangladesh Border.
"We are studying the order of the Honourable Supreme Court," the LUMPL said in a statement. A wholly-owned subsidiary of the Lafarge Surma Cement Limited (LSCL), LUMPL added "we would for the next hearing on March 19".
The court order followed a plea from a local tribal organisation which claimed that limestone mining by Lafarge at Nongtrai was posing a threat to environment and changing rainfall pattern in the area. The apex court said that it would not allow limestone mining in the eco-fragile area. It asked the LUMPL and LSCL to halt mining for a month.
Nongtrai is in the vicinity of Cherrapunji, which had once received maximum rainfall in the world and had earned the sobriquet of 'the wettest place on earth'.
The LUMPL has so far been transporting limestone mined from Nongtrai to the cement plant of the LSCL and Spanish company Cementos Molins at Chhatak by a 17 kilometre long cross-border conveyer belt. The LSCL plant at Chhatak has a capacity of producing 1.5 ton cement every year.
The Shella Joint Action Committee (SJAC), a local organisation, had filed a lawsuit alleging that rainfall in and around Nongtrai had fallen substantially due to large-scale deforestation caused by limestone mining by Lafarge.
The SJAC's lawyer Samiran Sharma said that the committee had alleged that Lafarge was operating in a destructive way that would have long-term implications for the people of Meghalaya and northeastern India and their control over indigenous lands and right to use the resources in a sustainable way.
Indian ministry of environment and forest in April 2007 had stopped the LUMPL's operation in Nongtrai. But the Supreme Court in an interim order on November 23, 2007 had allowed the company to continue mining.
The SJAC pointed out that while large-scale denudation of forest had lessened rainfall, what added to the problem was the fact that rainwater flowed off instead of being retained in the hilly stretch.
The organisation alleged that LUMPL had obtained environmental clearance by misrepresenting to the Indian government that it would carry out mining in "wasteland and non-forest area consisting mainly of barren land, and rocks", although the area had thick forest
The Supreme Court also directed the multi-national to submit a report on stocks of limestone lying on the site of mining within three days to the Central Empowered Committee appointed by it.
Senior advocate PS Narasimha, who also appeared for the SJAC, pointed out that tribal land had been transferred to the LUMPL by the state government of Meghalaya for mining in violation of laws of the land. The Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution prohibits transfer of tribal land to non-tribal individual or entities.
The SJAC spokesperson F Chestland Langri said in Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya, that his organisation was happy over the Supreme Court's order. He said that the SJAC would continue its fight against Lafarge to stop its mining operations in the state.
http://newsfrombangladesh.net/view.php?hidRecord=303967
A three-judge bench of India's apex court headed by chief justice K G Balakrishnan passed the order to temporarily halt limestone mining by Lafarge Umiam Mining Private Limited (LUMPL) at Nongtrai in East Khasi Hills district of Meghalaya.
However, the court order will not immediately halt production at the LSCL Chhatak plant as it has allowed the LUMPL to export the already mined limestone lying at its site in Meghalaya to the plant across the India-Bangladesh Border.
"We are studying the order of the Honourable Supreme Court," the LUMPL said in a statement. A wholly-owned subsidiary of the Lafarge Surma Cement Limited (LSCL), LUMPL added "we would for the next hearing on March 19".
The court order followed a plea from a local tribal organisation which claimed that limestone mining by Lafarge at Nongtrai was posing a threat to environment and changing rainfall pattern in the area. The apex court said that it would not allow limestone mining in the eco-fragile area. It asked the LUMPL and LSCL to halt mining for a month.
Nongtrai is in the vicinity of Cherrapunji, which had once received maximum rainfall in the world and had earned the sobriquet of 'the wettest place on earth'.
The LUMPL has so far been transporting limestone mined from Nongtrai to the cement plant of the LSCL and Spanish company Cementos Molins at Chhatak by a 17 kilometre long cross-border conveyer belt. The LSCL plant at Chhatak has a capacity of producing 1.5 ton cement every year.
The Shella Joint Action Committee (SJAC), a local organisation, had filed a lawsuit alleging that rainfall in and around Nongtrai had fallen substantially due to large-scale deforestation caused by limestone mining by Lafarge.
The SJAC's lawyer Samiran Sharma said that the committee had alleged that Lafarge was operating in a destructive way that would have long-term implications for the people of Meghalaya and northeastern India and their control over indigenous lands and right to use the resources in a sustainable way.
Indian ministry of environment and forest in April 2007 had stopped the LUMPL's operation in Nongtrai. But the Supreme Court in an interim order on November 23, 2007 had allowed the company to continue mining.
The SJAC pointed out that while large-scale denudation of forest had lessened rainfall, what added to the problem was the fact that rainwater flowed off instead of being retained in the hilly stretch.
The organisation alleged that LUMPL had obtained environmental clearance by misrepresenting to the Indian government that it would carry out mining in "wasteland and non-forest area consisting mainly of barren land, and rocks", although the area had thick forest
The Supreme Court also directed the multi-national to submit a report on stocks of limestone lying on the site of mining within three days to the Central Empowered Committee appointed by it.
Senior advocate PS Narasimha, who also appeared for the SJAC, pointed out that tribal land had been transferred to the LUMPL by the state government of Meghalaya for mining in violation of laws of the land. The Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution prohibits transfer of tribal land to non-tribal individual or entities.
The SJAC spokesperson F Chestland Langri said in Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya, that his organisation was happy over the Supreme Court's order. He said that the SJAC would continue its fight against Lafarge to stop its mining operations in the state.
http://newsfrombangladesh.net/view.php?hidRecord=303967
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