Friday, December 7, 2012

SC asks State to furnish detail report on Niyamgiri mining



--Next hearing on January 11

BHUBANESWAR: A special bench of the Supreme Court after hearing the Lanjigarh’s Niyamgiri mining case on Thursday directed the State and the Central Government to furnish detailed report on the issue. The hearing of the apex court is not completed and next hearing of the case would be conducted on January 11.

It may be noted that the apex court had given permission to the Sterlite India Company of the Vedanta group for the diversion of 660.749 hectares of forest land at Niyamgiri in Lanjigarh of Kalahandi district in 2008, but later the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) had refused to give stage-II forest clearance for mining bauxite in August 24, 2010 from the Niyamgiri hills following the allegations against the company for allegedly violating the Forest Rights Act in that area.

Then a suit was filed by Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC) when the MoEF withdrew the forest clearance. After Vedanta closed its Lanjigarh aluminum refinery on Wednesday due to acute shortage of bauxite, all eyes are now on the apex court which would hear the petition against the MoEF.

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