Hindalco was hit by the tribunal and has been fined Rs 7.5 crore
Hindalco gets tribunal shock and has been fined Rs 7.5 crore by the National Environment Tribunal for illegally extracting large quantities of coal from the Talabira mine in the Rengali block of Sambalpur district and destroying the local environment. Chhattisgarh’s Raipur Engine Limited, which leased the mine after Hindalco, has also been fined Rs 2.5 crore for partially using it. The tribunal last Wednesday ordered the two companies to deposit Rs 10 crore in the state pollution control board together. Hemant Behera and Manbodh Bishwal, local residents, complained to the Tribunal in 2014 that the environment in the Talabira open-pit coal mine was being polluted due to the open nature of the pollution law. The tribunal alleged that Hindalco was allowed to extract 3 million tonnes of coal per year, while Hindalco extracted 16 million tonnes of coal annually.
Not only was the coal overloaded, it was also devastating to the local environment. After excavating the stone, the stones, clay and other minerals that came out were not dumped in the mine, and by dumping it like a hill in the surrounding agricultural area, the soil became polluted and the fertility of the agricultural area of the local area was destroyed. Many people have been forced to flee their homes to dump their rubbish. The company has even cut down the small hills in the area for its own benefit.
At the time this was mentioned, the Talabira mine was under Hindalco (2001 to 2014). It has been leased by Raipur N Jain Limited (REL) in Chhattisgarh since 2015. Hindalco therefore blamed the Raipur Engine Limited Tribunal for the illegal mining and environmental degradation. Hindalco, on the other hand, argued that he did not illegally extract more coal or that there was no evidence that the local area was polluted. Hindalco argued that the Odisha State Pollution Control Board was satisfied with the pollution control system. However, on the basis of evidence from field visits, the tribunal ignored the cleanliness of the two companies and found that the pollution laws at the Talabira coal mine had been severely violated and the local environment had been severely damaged. Justice Adarsh Kumar Goyal, chairman of the tribunal, on Wednesday ordered Hindalco and Raipur Engine Limited to pay Rs 7.5 crore and Rs 2.5 crore, respectively, blaming Hindalco and Raipur Engine Limited for the damage.
The tribunal has set up a four-member committee to look into how to recover Rs 7.5 crore from Hindalco and Rs 2.5 crore from Raipur Energy Limited and how to use the money to make up for the damage caused to the environment. The committee is made up of regional officials of the Kolkata Central Environmental Control Board, IIT Dhanbad, the state environmental control board, the regional officer of the state forest and environment department and the Sambalpur district commissioner.
