Citing violation of a host of environmental laws, a government-appointed expert panel has recommended that Vedanta Resources should not be allowed to go ahead with its proposed Bauxite Mining project in the Niyamgiri hills area of Kalahandi and Rayagada districts in Orissa. A decision on this will be taken by the Ministry of Environment and Forests later this month. The expert panel, headed by Naresh C Saxena, a retired IAS officer who...

For deliberate non-implementation of forest right, panchayat Acts The N.C. Saxena panel, which has asked the Centre not to clear Vedanta's Bauxite Mining project in Orissa, is scathing about the “collusion” of the State and district administrations, blaming them for deliberate non-implementation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA) and the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act (PESA) in the region. These Acts insist that the consent of forest dwelling tribal communities...

The four-member panel, which holds the fate of Vedanta's Bauxite Mining project in the Niyamgiri Hills of Orissa, has been given an expanded mandate. The committee has now been given the job of investigating the “likely physical and economic displacement due to the project, including the resource displacement of forest users and the rehabilitation plan.” Open-ended course It has also been given an open-ended mandate, with permission to “inquire into or investigate any...

Vedanta’s plans to source bauxite from Niyamgiri hills in Kalahandi district of Orissa appear to have run into trouble with the Attorney General opining that the ministry of environment has the powers to stop diversion of forest land till rights of tribals under the Forest Rights Act are settled. After the environment ministry kept on hold clearance for the Vedanta project, questions were raised on the mandate of the department...

Approvals pertain to Bauxite Mining, alumina factory, wetlands allocation for three thermal projects Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh has announced a probe into all kinds of permission given so far for Bauxite Mining, setting up of alumina factory and allocation of wetlands in Srikakulam for setting up three thermal power projects. He promised to withdraw all permissions if the report proved that they were given in contravention...