The Supreme Court on Wednesday gave its green signal to the French cement giant Lafarge to carry out limestone mining in Meghalaya.

A special forest Bench of the apex court observed that the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), had in April 2010, followed all statutory procedures while granting the revised environmental and forest clearance to Lafarge for limestone mining in 116 hectares in Meghalaya's East Khasi hills.

The Bench headed by the Chief Justice, Mr S.H. Kapadia, which had reserved its judgment this May after hearing the parties on the issue, said it was satisfied with the Ministry's due diligence exercise and upheld the revised clearance to Lafarge.

The MoEF had granted its clearance to the project under the Forest Conservation Act in April 2010 and under the Environment (Protection) Act in August 2001.

In February 2010, the apex court had stayed Lafarge's limestone mining in Meghalaya for its Bangladesh cement plant as the area in East Khasi hills fell under an ‘ecologically sensitive’ forest land.

Then, on the apex court's directions, the MoEF carried out due diligence before granting a revised clearance to the company in April 2010 with strict riders. However, this clearance was opposed by the residents of Shella village, which is near the mining area.

Lafarge contended that there was no forest in the mining area and it was only wasteland. The company cited the report of the Divisional Forest Officer's report on the project in June 2000 in this regard.

Lafarge's plan is to carry the limestone mined from Meghalaya through a conveyor belt across the border to Bangladesh for its cement plant in that country.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW