Mandi, May 16
Controversial Harish Cement Ltd’s 1.70-million tonnes capacity cement plant near Sundarnagar will be an ecological disaster for the town as the plant will destroy 20,000 trees, 60,000 saplings and 3.5 lakh non-timber plants, including 25 species of herbs, worth Rs 21 crore in the 173 hectares mining area.
A fresh Forest Department survey has come as a shot in the arms for villagers opposing the plant. But the department has not counted the impending destruction to the wildlife habitats and water sources in the mining area on the ground that “there is no provision under the Forest Conservation Act for enumeration of fauna”.
Besides trees and shrubs, the mining will destroy 25 species of herbs used by the villagers for various purposes. These include berberis, kashmal, kadi patta, trimir, basuti, gerna, dharwin, brami, beneksha, marigold and others, revealed the survey.
Moreover, the Rs 1,200 crore cement plant will render 759 families landless and 361 families homeless as they will lose 2,855 bighas of fertile land to the mining and plant site in Bharari, Khatarvar, Gangal, Chambi, Bagain, Keran, Kangar, Trambi and Barri villages near the town.
The company moved the Supreme Court recently after the high court’s division bench of Justice Rajiv Sharma and Justice Deepak Gupta rejected the environmental clearance on December 13, 2010. The apex court had sought replies from nine respondents in the case within four weeks in this month, sources said.
The sources told The Tribune that the mining area from Keran village to Nalni-Maloh extended into the Bandli wildlife sanctuary and Taramar eco-reserve. The whole area was a home to barking deer, leopards, pheasants, reptiles and species of birds.
Chunilal, president, Kisan Kalyan Sangh, said now a majority of people opposed the cement plant. “We will fight till last as we have won a battle in high court,” he added.
Sundernagar DFO VK Babu said the MOEF had not given its final approval for the plant and the 1.8 hectare area for the new plant site at Chambi and Khatarvari. The company had not moved the case to the MOEF for diversion of the remaining 460 hectares of the forest land for mining under the FCA.
But the company’s vice-president Narender Jain claimed that the plant site was shifted in March 2007 because the MOEF rejected the old site as it was near to the Bandli wildlife sanctuary.
“We have paid Rs 20.71 crore to the Forest Department as the net present value for the mining area and deposited Rs 2 crore as security when it signed the supplementary MoU with the state government when the Aditya Birla group took over the company in 2007”.
Controversial Harish Cement Ltd’s 1.70-million tonnes capacity cement plant near Sundarnagar will be an ecological disaster for the town as the plant will destroy 20,000 trees, 60,000 saplings and 3.5 lakh non-timber plants, including 25 species of herbs, worth Rs 21 crore in the 173 hectares mining area.
A fresh Forest Department survey has come as a shot in the arms for villagers opposing the plant. But the department has not counted the impending destruction to the wildlife habitats and water sources in the mining area on the ground that “there is no provision under the Forest Conservation Act for enumeration of fauna”.
Besides trees and shrubs, the mining will destroy 25 species of herbs used by the villagers for various purposes. These include berberis, kashmal, kadi patta, trimir, basuti, gerna, dharwin, brami, beneksha, marigold and others, revealed the survey.
Moreover, the Rs 1,200 crore cement plant will render 759 families landless and 361 families homeless as they will lose 2,855 bighas of fertile land to the mining and plant site in Bharari, Khatarvar, Gangal, Chambi, Bagain, Keran, Kangar, Trambi and Barri villages near the town.
The company moved the Supreme Court recently after the high court’s division bench of Justice Rajiv Sharma and Justice Deepak Gupta rejected the environmental clearance on December 13, 2010. The apex court had sought replies from nine respondents in the case within four weeks in this month, sources said.
The sources told The Tribune that the mining area from Keran village to Nalni-Maloh extended into the Bandli wildlife sanctuary and Taramar eco-reserve. The whole area was a home to barking deer, leopards, pheasants, reptiles and species of birds.
Chunilal, president, Kisan Kalyan Sangh, said now a majority of people opposed the cement plant. “We will fight till last as we have won a battle in high court,” he added.
Sundernagar DFO VK Babu said the MOEF had not given its final approval for the plant and the 1.8 hectare area for the new plant site at Chambi and Khatarvari. The company had not moved the case to the MOEF for diversion of the remaining 460 hectares of the forest land for mining under the FCA.
But the company’s vice-president Narender Jain claimed that the plant site was shifted in March 2007 because the MOEF rejected the old site as it was near to the Bandli wildlife sanctuary.
“We have paid Rs 20.71 crore to the Forest Department as the net present value for the mining area and deposited Rs 2 crore as security when it signed the supplementary MoU with the state government when the Aditya Birla group took over the company in 2007”.
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