Supreme Court refuses to lift stay on Lafarge mining

It’s not going to be easy for the French cement giant Lafarge to mine limestone in the forests of Meghalaya and ship the raw material to its cement plant in Bangladesh.

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to lift the stay on mining activity saying it would consider it only after the four conditions mentioned in the report of the expert committee are fulfiled.

A bench of chief Justice KG Balakrishnan, justices S H Kapadia and Aftab Alam on Monday said it wouldn’t accept the Ministry of Environment and Forests’ (MoEF) report until a comprehensive examination of the mining in Meghalaya is undertaken.

This is a setback to the Union government’s efforts for lifting the stay on Lafarge mining on the grounds that Bangladesh is a friendly country and delay in supply of limestone for its cement plant could jeopardise the relationship.   

The court wants Lafarge to submit detailed comprehensive bio-engineering plan of the area as per the suggestion of Central Institute of Mining & Fuel Research, Nagpur, and National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nagpur.

It would have to make periodical assessment of flora and fauna of the area including a time bound plan for conservation as recommended in the digital mapping report of the mining area.
Judges have also asked for a comprehensive bio-diversity conservation plan with a provision of time bound implementation prepared by the state government and funds provided by Lafarge in a time-bound manner.

Moreover, Lafarge has to implement surface miner technology to reduce environmental impact as recommended in the digital mapping report.

On February 5 the court had stayed the mining operation following reports that Lafarge had encroached in the reserved forest land and committed other irregularities.

The Bench said MoEF’s report giving mining clearance has not appreciated the recommendations of an expert committee that called for a comprehensive bio-engineering plan, periodical assessment of flora and fauna and a time-bound plan for biodiversity conservation of the area. The court said it would consider lifting the stay only after these four conditions are fulfiled.