MoEF halts issuance of ToR to Vedanta

The Union Ministry of Environment and Forest has decided to temporarily halt the issuance of the term of reference (ToR) in favour of Vedanta Aluminium Ltd (VAL) for conduct of environment impact assessment (EIA) study for the expansion work of the company’s Lanjigarh project.

The action has been taken keeping in view of the review petition filed by VAL in the Orissa High Court about reconsidering the court decision to stop the expansion works.

“It is proposed that the issuance of ToR be kept in abeyance till the disposal of the Review Petition by the High Court of Orissa, Cuttack,” the notice from MoEF said.

The VAL had applied to the ministry for issue of ToR in August this year as a pre-curser to carry out EIA study for its expansion project.

The High Court had rejected plea of the London Stock Exchange listed aluminium producer in July this year and had upheld the MoEF decision to stay the expansion programme of Vedanta Aluminium’s (VAL’s) alumina refinery in Orissa.

Vedanta proposed to expand the capacity of its 1 million tonne per annum (MTPA) aluminium refinery to 6 MTPA and also to enhance the captive power generation to 285 Mw from existing 75 Mw at its facility at Lanjigarh, where the company plans to invest $8.4 billion.

The MoEF, following a report from the Saxena Committee that VAL was carrying out the expansion programme without any environment clearance, had stopped the work on October 20, 2010.