In yet another blow to the Anil Agarwal-owned Vedanta Alumina Ltd , the environment ministry has decided to halt the company’s plans of expanding its Rs 4,600-crore Lanjigarh refinery in Orissa. The existing one million tonne Lanjigarh refinery will, however, continue to be in operation. The ministry has found the Lanjigarh refinery’s expansion to be “unauthorised” and in serious violation of environmental laws. It has decided to revoke the permission given...

The showpiece proposed iron and steel project in Orissa by South Korean steel major POSCO faces a huge cloud of uncertainty with an expert panel set up by the Environment Ministry alleging violations of environmental laws. Three of its four members today recommended that all initial clearances to the project be cancelled. The lone dissenting voice was that of former Environment Secretary Meena Gupta who argued that there was no need...

The four-member review committee on Posco  will submit its report to the environment and forests ministry on Monday but it has already got mired in controversy with the chair of the panel, ex-environment secretary Meena Gupta, expected to give a dissent note while the other members provide a unanimous majority version. The fact that the chair of the committee was the senior-most bureaucrat in MoEF when environmental clearance was given to...

The fate of South Korean steel giant Posco’s project in Orissa will be decided by early November. The decision will be taken before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh travels to Seoul for the G-20 meet in the second week of November. The environment ministry-appointed committee headed by former environment secretary Meena Gupta will submit its report on October 18. Sources said that there are indications that the panel will not be submitting...

A decision on South Korean steel major Posco’s project in Orissa is likely to be taken soon after the environment ministry appointed committee submits its report on October 11. Work on Posco’s Rs 54,0000-crore project in Jagatsinghpur was suspended following a stop-work order by the environment ministry in August. "The panel has almost finalised its report and will submit it to the ministry on October 11. It will be then discussed by...