Ramesh petitioned against Lafarge plant in Meghalaya

[Mrudul Godbole]

16 NOV, 2010, 01.34PM IST,PTI
Ramesh petitioned against Lafarge plant in Meghalaya

SHILLONG: The proposed mega cement plant in Meghalaya by Lafarge is a threat to numerous cave systems and wildlife and environmental clearance should not be granted to it, a cave research body has petitioned the Union Environment and Forest Minister Jairam Ramesh .

"The Jaintia Hills district (where the plant is proposed) is internationally referred to as Mecca for the cavers of the world. Several caving systems existing in this particular location have been listed in the world map of longest and deepest caves. Proper protection of these subterranean caves must be one of our national regard," National Cave Research and Protection Organization said in the petition yestrday.

Urging that the Centre consider the facts before taking any decision on the environmental clearance, it said "We are not even aware of two per cent subterranean biodiversity abiding in these caves but we are leaving them to get extinct.

The proposed plant site is very close to Narpuh and Saipung reserve forests and the noise and dust pollution from the proposed plant would be a threat to the wildlife there, the petition signed by the organization's president Jayant Biswas said.

Besides, the contaminated water to be discharged by the plant would lead to degradation of the land known for good rice productivity, it said.

There were already a number of cement plants in the district which flout norms, it added.

Earlier, Lafarge had said the apprehensions raised about the environmental impact of the project are 'premature' and 'unfounded'.

The project would maintain the highest standards of environmental protection and use scientific mining techniques as per the best international practices. Besides, the project would not progress without conducting a proper environmental impact assessment and obtaining all statutory clearances, the French company had said in a statement.

Lafarge India Eastern Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lafarge India Pvt Ltd, had got a single window clearance from Meghalaya government for it's proposed 1.1 mt integrated cement plant at Nongkhlei in the limestone rich Jaintia Hills district.

At an estimated cost of Rs 1000 crore - the project will be one of the biggest private sector investment in the region, company sources say.

The French company's limestone mining project in the state is shut since February following an apex court order on a petition filed by an NGO alleging that Lafarge's mining activities violated the constitutional provision against handing over tribal land in the northeast to non-tribals.

It had also alleged that the company had obtained environmental clearance by falsely showing thickly forested land as wasteland.

Article at - http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/...ow/6935021.cms

[Sabyasachi Patra]

I hope this project is shelved. The North east states need not get into the rat race of the so called polluting developmental projects that come at the cost of environment. A mechanism can be worked out to compensate these states so that the inhabitants can maintain a standard of living.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Sangam Dipak]

As one who feels passionately for having both comforts and industrialization as well as nature, I write about what is possible.

We need cement and for making portland cement, clinker is needed. Clinker is produced from limestone with clay. Nowadays some of the traditional materials is substituted with materials such as fly ash and ranulated blast furnace slag, which are by-products or waste of other industry. In Mehalaya as in Bhutan limestone is in abundance and needs to be mined for use for cement manufacture. With controlled mining it should be possible to extract some from places with minimum environmental impact but the aim must be to minimize the impact of mining activity. Unfortunately in our country the enforcement of environmental legislation is lax and our Government does not insist on the use of the best avaialble technology.

We continue in using electrostatic precipitators in power plants and other plants for dust collection, when it is well known that fabric bag filters can give better results ( outlet dust emmissions of 50 mg/Nm3 for best ESP while fabric filters give 20 mg/Nm3), and it was really difficult in convincing the industry to use fabric filters, especially the public sector comanies( which I shall not name) because of the lack of a maintainance culture.

Many of the Public Sector Steel Plants operate with technology that is at least 3 decades old and many of them have not installed pollution control equiment, that would result in a better working environment for the employees as well as better environment around.

If this is true for the steel industry it certainly must be true for the cement industry.

What we need is better regulation and enforcement so that indutrial activity is done in a controlled and regulated manner paying attention to the sensitivity of the areas around.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Sangam,
Nearly two decades ago I was a metallurgist and used to get bathed in the red dust emanating out of the Electrostatic precipitators in the Rourkela Steel plant and else where. I have extensively visited the mines and have seen the impact first hand. The fact is we can live and prosper with the polluting mines. Despite having the richest iron ore, we haven't prospered. What is the point in mining these and exporting?

Japan does well with steel making without having iron ore, coal mines etc. The important thing is to preserve your mineral resources as it is a finite quantity. The Govt. and industries deliver blanket statements that our industry would be impacted without mining. The question is, how many people have developed due to these mining activities?

We have messed up and pock marked major part of our country. Atleast, we can leave out the North east and allow it to function as the lungs of our country.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Lakshminarayanan Nataraja]

The intangible ecological and bio-diversity service which our North-Eastern forests render is much more costlier than its tangible mineral wealth.

The bio-diversity of North East is very valuble and tampering it will be a catastrophe.

In W.Ghats, it is painful to note the damage caused to its pristine valleys and escarpments due to indiscriminate limestone mining by a renowned cement maker.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

The Hon'ble Supreme Court of India has vacated its stay order dated 5th february, 2010 and have allowed resumption of mining in the Khasi hills of Meghalaya. The bench which passed the order was headed by the Chief Justice of S. H. Kapadia. It is reported that the Chief Justice cited that the need of the hour is sustainable development and proper balance has to be maintained between environment protection and development.

The limestone mined from the Khasi hills of Meghalaya will be exported to Bangladesh and will help in running the plant of Lafarge.

Sabyasachi