{"id":5296,"date":"2011-09-19T19:25:31","date_gmt":"2011-09-19T23:25:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.orissalinks.com\/orissagrowth\/?p=5296"},"modified":"2011-09-19T19:25:54","modified_gmt":"2011-09-19T23:25:54","slug":"infrastructure-hurdles-getting-noticed-some-odisha-projects-in-focus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.orissalinks.com\/orissagrowth\/archives\/5296","title":{"rendered":"Infrastructure hurdles getting noticed; Some Odisha projects in focus"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In the following excerpts from <a target=\"_self\" href=\"http:\/\/www.business-standard.com\/india\/news\/infra-hurdlesgrowth-needs-\/449770\/\">a report in Business Standard<\/a> Haridaspur-Paradip and Talcher-Bimlagarh are listed as strategic projects. I hope they are fast tracked.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>&#8230; Delays in land acquisition and forest clearances continue to stand in  the way of completing <span style=\"background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0);\">strategic projects like the 82-km  Haridaspur-Paradip line and the 154-km link between Talcher and  Bimlagarh, both in Orissa<\/span>. While the first project is to give good port  access to units in the steel hub of Kalinganagar, the second is designed  to step up evacuation of coal from mines at Angul and Talcher.<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;This is why India, endowed with the world&rsquo;s fifth largest bauxite  deposits and the fourth largest coal reserves, has emerged as a  preferred place for making aluminium. Within the country, Orissa is  where every aluminium maker wants a presence. That is why the Vedanta  group, in spite of being solidly anchored in Chhattisgarh, thanks to its  50 per cent ownership of Balco, with capacity of 345,000 tonnes and  then giving shape to a 650,000-tonne smelter there, wants to create  alumina capacity of five mt and smelting capacity of 1.6 mt in Orissa,  with adequate upstream integration in bauxite mining and coal-based  power.<\/p>\n<p><strong>NAY SAYERS<\/strong><br \/>\nUnfortunately, Vedanta is not able to realise what it has set out to do  in Orissa, as it fell foul of pressure groups such as Amnesty  International and Survival International and also of the ministry of  environment and forests. The Niyamgiri Hills, from where Vedanta&rsquo;s  refinery is to draw bauxite, is considered sacred by Dongria Kondh  tribesmen. But why should the company be stopped to take out bauxite  from there if it is ready to resettle the displaced people and practise  environment-friendly mining?<\/p>\n<p>As a result of the impasse, Vedanta is required to source bauxite  from outside, totally upsetting the considerations for hosting a  refinery at nearby Lanjigarh. The denial of mining at Niyamgiri is  setting a bad precedent for the mining sector. Redemption for Vedanta  would hopefully come, with the Orissa government committed to offering  alternative bauxite deposits.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>There are some recent news on Vedanta&#8217;s expansion in Lanjigarh. But the news are confusing. Following is an excerpt from <a target=\"_self\" href=\"http:\/\/articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/2011-09-17\/india\/30168402_1_bauxite-mining-project-environment-clearance-vedanta\">a September 17th report in Times of India<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Vedanta has suffered another setback in its fight-back to expand the  aluminium refinery in Orissa after the Union environment ministry had  struck down its environment clearance for violations.<\/p>\n<p>The Cuttack  bench of the Orissa High Court backed the environment ministry and  ordered that Vedanta would have to apply afresh for a clearance for  expansion if it wants to.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Following is an excerpt from <a target=\"_self\" href=\"http:\/\/profit.ndtv.com\/news\/show\/vedanta-s-aluminium-project-in-orissa-gets-green-nod-178542?ch=kjjbhrkjrhplkmn\">a September 19th report in ndtv.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The ministry of environment and forests has cleared Vedanta Aluminium&rsquo;s project in Lanjigarh, Orissa.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The expansion of Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Aluminium&#8217;s four million  tonne Lanjigarh refinery plant in Kalahandi had been put on hold by&nbsp;the  Union Environment Ministry &nbsp;on October 21, 2010.<\/p>\n<p>&#8230; Environment ministry&rsquo;s expert appraisal committee (EAC) has cleared the  project with 70 conditions, sources told NDTV. Major conditions among  them are: &nbsp;Five per cent of the total project cost would be spent on  social welfare projects.The company will maintain air, water quality  &amp; develop 164 hectare of&nbsp;plant area&nbsp;as green belt.<\/p>\n<p>Others conditions say that the company will also submit rehabilitation  and resettlement policy covering tribals, which should be in line with  government policies. The company will also be required to submit  corporate environment policy approved by its board. <span class=\"Apple-tab-span\" style=\"white-space:pre\"> <\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"position: fixed;\">\n<div id=\"new_selection_block0.4479043285586325\" style=\"overflow: hidden; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; border: medium none;\">\n<p>Read more at: <a href=\"http:\/\/profit.ndtv.com\/news\/show\/vedanta-s-aluminium-project-in-orissa-gets-green-nod-178542?ch=kjjbhrkjrhplkmn&amp;cp\" target=\"_blank_\">http:\/\/profit.ndtv.com\/news\/show\/vedanta-s-aluminium-project-in-orissa-gets-green-nod-178542?ch=kjjbhrkjrhplkmn&amp;cp<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"position: fixed;\">\n<div id=\"new_selection_block0.8390386806742961\" style=\"overflow: hidden; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; border: medium none;\">\n<p>Read more at: <a href=\"http:\/\/profit.ndtv.com\/news\/show\/vedanta-s-aluminium-project-in-orissa-gets-green-nod-178542?ch=kjjbhrkjrhplkmn&amp;cp\" target=\"_blank_\">http:\/\/profit.ndtv.com\/news\/show\/vedanta-s-aluminium-project-in-orissa-gets-green-nod-178542?ch=kjjbhrkjrhplkmn&amp;cp<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the following excerpts from a report in Business Standard Haridaspur-Paradip and Talcher-Bimlagarh are listed as strategic projects. I hope they are fast tracked. &#8230; Delays in land acquisition and forest clearances continue to stand in the way of completing strategic projects like the 82-km Haridaspur-Paradip line and the 154-km link between Talcher and Bimlagarh, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68,285,214,609,218,502,35,576,161],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-industry-aluminium","category-anil-agarwal","category-bauxite","category-business-standard","category-center-orissa","category-haridaspur-paradeep-under-constr","category-district-kalahandi","category-talcher-bimlagarh-under-constr","category-vedanta"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orissalinks.com\/orissagrowth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orissalinks.com\/orissagrowth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orissalinks.com\/orissagrowth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orissalinks.com\/orissagrowth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orissalinks.com\/orissagrowth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.orissalinks.com\/orissagrowth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5296\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orissalinks.com\/orissagrowth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orissalinks.com\/orissagrowth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orissalinks.com\/orissagrowth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}