The Environment Ministry has asked detergent major Nirma Ltd to stop work in its cement and captive power plant being set up in Gujarat after it was found out that the proposed plant was affecting the water body on the project site.

Nirma, as part of the project, is setting up a 1.91-million-tonne per annum cement plant, coke oven plant with a capacity of 1.5 lakh tonne per annum and a 50-MW captive power plant near village Padhiarka in Mahuva taluk of Bhavnagar. The proposed factory, being built over the Samdhiyala reservoir, has been facing opposition from the local farmers and villagers.

The Ministry, on Friday, issued the show-cause notice under Section 5 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, for permanent suspension of work and revocation of the environmental clearance for the proposed project.

The Ministry's notice came after its Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) reported that the proposed project was affecting the water body on the site. EAC, which visited the project site last month, suggested that an alternative site can be looked at for the proposed project. It also said that there was no need to raze the wetland to set up a cement plant.

The Ministry order said to avoid “any further damage to the wetland”. Nirma was being asked to “stop the implementation, including construction work of the project with immediate effect and until further orders.” Nirma has been given an option to present its case before the Ministry on March 16 or 17.

The Ministry sent a review committee to study the project after the case was brought to the notice of the Ministry by the Centre for Science and Environment. CSE's investigations had found large-scale misrepresentations and violations in the company's environment impact assessment (EIA) report.

“We found huge violations in the environmental impact assessment report submitted by the company, which did not reveal that the project was being built on a massive water body,” said Ms Sunita Narain, Director-General, CSE.

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