The Hindu Business Line : Central team assessing impact of Vedanta's mining site at Kalahasti

A TWO-MEMBER team of the Supreme Court-appointed Central Empowered Committee visited the site of Vedanta Alumina's proposed Rs 4,500-crore alumina refinery at Lanjigarh in Orissa's Kalahandi district on Wednesday to assess if the project would cause any damage to the region's ecology.

The two members - Mr P.V. Jayakrishnan and Mr Mahendra Vyas - also inspected the proposed mining site at the top of the Niyamgiri hills and spoke to the company officials.

The district administration officials were present during the team's visit.

The Central Empowered Committee has been asked by the apex court to submit their final report on the alumina project by July 13.

Mr Prafulla Samantara and Mr Biswajit Mohanty, social activists who have filed separate petitions before the Supreme Court submitting that the alumina project would affect the local tribal population and environment, were also present when the two-member team went round the area.

After arriving at the district headquarter town of Bhawanipatna on Tuesday, Mr Jayakrishnan and Mr Vyas had interacted with the local people to know their views on the proposed alumina refinery.

The proposed refinery ran into rough weather after a two-member team of the Empowered Committee comprising Mr S.C. Sharma and Mr Sanjeev Chadha visited the site a few months ago and gave a report that the company had violated certain forest laws.

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