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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | On environmental violation

On environmental violation

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published Published on Apr 26, 2010   modified Modified on Apr 26, 2010

Long-term greedy is a term that a Goldman Sachs partner made famous, by way of self-definition . It is as good a description as any of making profits in a sustainable fashion. Lafarge displayed short-term greed when it violated the law in obtaining forest clearance for a limestone mining project in Meghalaya’s Khasi hills, to supply raw material for its own cement plant in neighbouring Bangladesh.

It described the mining site as a near-wasteland to obtain forest clearance, which turned void after it was established that the mining site had indeed been thick forest . By granting forest clearance to Lafarge's limestone mining operations in Meghalaya now, the Environment Ministry has done this country a disservice. By mining limestone without a forest clearance, the company had violated the Forest Conservation Act and possibly the Environment Protection Act as well.

Now, under pressure from the French, Bangladesh and multilateral donors who bankrolled the project, the Indian government is trying to regularise the project. As a penalty, it has suggested the company pay some fines. The implications are unnerving. In part because if the government's proposal is accepted by the Supreme Court, it will create a precedent where any company can win clearances on the basis of misleading affidavits and later press for regularisation.

And in part because the government evidently thinks it can apply India's laws selectively. Accepting fait accompli in the matter of deforestation or violation of other laws intended to protect fragile ecology and vulnerable communities is a recipe for long-term pain and suffering. The culpable agency should be penalised, not rewarded with the proceeds of its crime.

It is possible to take the view that the forests have, in any case, been irreversibly damaged at the mining site and that mining should continue. A viable solution that makes the polluter pay and, at the same time, protects the economic activity at stake is to levy penalties on Lafarge for its actions, expropriate the mine and auction it off to some other party, who can then supply limestone to the cement plant in Bangladesh. Such an option is, indeed, viable and superior to the sale of environmental indulgences.


The Economic Times, 26 April, 2010, http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/editorial/On-environmental-violation/articleshow/5857985.cms


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