Sharing Profits With Tribals Way Out of Impasse?

New Delhi, Mar 28 : The Centre on Friday pleaded with the Supreme Court for vacation of its order last month stopping mining of limestone in Meghalaya and its supply to a cement plant built by a French firm at Chhatak in Bangladesh, saying it had put India’s bilateral ties with Dhaka under severe strain.

Attorney general G E Vahanvati cited several reasons — from straining of bilateral relationship, breach of solemn guarantee by India for uninterrupted supply of raw material to the cement plant, to India losing face in the international community — to drive home the gravity of the situation before the Forest Bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices S H Kapadia and Aftab Alam.

But amicus curiae Harish Salve said that though he understood the problem being faced by the AG, the court could not be a party to a situation where the raw material was being mined in contravention of forest conservation law and where the profits of the mined produce was being enjoyed by a multinational company, Lafarge.

Taking cue from a tribal welfare body which has alleged that the land leased for mining was transferred in breach of rules, Salve further said the government should consider putting the entire profit earned from such supply of raw material to Bangladesh to build a fund that would be used for the welfare of the natives.

Vahanvati immediately agreed to consider the proposal and get back to the court with a response from the government on Monday, when it would be heard again.

The SC’s February 5 order turning off supply of limestone from the mines in East Khasi Hills district in Meghalaya to French cement giant Lafarge’s $255 million cement plant in Bangladesh had put India in a piquant diplomatic situation with Dhaka and Paris.

Lafarge Umuiam Mining Pvt Ltd (LUMPL) was mining the limestone quarry area spread over 100 hectares near Indo-Bangladesh border for supply of raw material to Lafarge Surma Cement Project at Chhatak in Sunamganj.

Lafarge and Spanish cement producer Cementos Mollins had set up the state-of-the-art fully integrated cement plant at Chhatak with a captive power plant of 300 mw. In 2001, the Bangladeshi high commissioner and then Indian foreign secretary Lalit Mansingh had signed an agreement for uninterrupted supply of raw material to the plant from the mines in Meghalaya.