The environment ministry has issued environmental violation notice to Anil Agarwal-promoted Vedanta Alumina’s Lanjigarh refinery. Violations include failure to adhere to environment protection norms, unauthorised expansion of capacity to 6 million tonnes and sourcing of bauxite from illegal mines. The company has time till September 14 to submit its reply. An unsatisfactory explanation could result in the refinery’s closure. The ministry had, last week, rejected Vedanta’s $1.7 billion bauxite mining...

Soon after stalling Vedanta's proposed bauxite mining project in Orissa, the Environment Ministry today said the licence granted to mining firms supplying the mineral to its alumina refinery is under scanner. "It appears that project proponent (Vedanta) is sourcing bauxite from a large number of mines in Jharkhand for the one million tonne alumina refinery (in Lanjigarh) that are not in possession of valid environmental clearance. "This matter is being...

Pollution contents were 300 to 1,000 per cent more than the norms The Gujarat Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti, a voluntary organisation working for environmental protection, has come out with startling facts on how the badly treated industrial effluents are being dumped in the major rivers in the State and in the sea. The rivers include the Narmada, Mahisagar, Sabamarti and Damanganga and the sea outlet is in the Gulf of Cambay. Samiti convener...

Indian agriculture was mostly organic before the advent of the Green Revolution. However, the widespread adoption of nutrient-responsive and high-yielding varieties greatly promoted the use of inorganic fertilisers, weedicides and insecticides. The compulsion to grow more for food security has led farmers to overlook food quality norms and an indiscriminate use of natural resources. Based on three principal factors viz., mixed cropping, crop rotation and use of organic fertilizers, the National...

Bhopal cast a pall on Singur today, fed by a cocktail of pollution, panic and politics. A chemical factory, declared a “fit case for closure” by the state pollution control board (PCB) two months ago, spewed carbon soot-laced smoke this dawn. The plant belongs to Himadri Chemicals and Industries, a company with an annual turnover of over Rs 500 crore and said to be the country’s largest manufacturer of coal tar...