PANJIM: The Ministry of Environment and Forest & Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has deferred the proposal to grant environmental clearance (EC) to the Vedanta block at Bicholim.
According to the minutes of meeting of Expert Appraisal Committee for the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change held on September 21 and 22, the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) has asked the project proponent to revisit the plan for backfilling clearly indicating the voids area and the capacity available or required for backfilling.
The EAC has asked the project proponent to submit the design of settling ponds by considering the annual rainfall, catchment area and its discharge.
It has said that the project proponent needs to bypass the public road and also to explore the possibility of increasing the capacity of the truck so as to reduce the number of trips.
The EAC opined that the project proponent needs to revisit the traffic load by considering the cycle time and waiting time.
They also need to submit the action plan for strengthening the road and for converting the unpaved road into concrete road.
“’Since the mine lease area is sharing the Mayem Forest common boundary, the Project Proponent needs to submit the letter from the State Forest Department regarding the involvement of forest land in the mine lease area,” EAC said.
The committee has also asked to submit a letter from the Directorate of Mines and, Government of Goa, clarifying whether any illegal mining within the mine lease area has been carried out or not and whether the same has been carried out by Vedanta Limited or not?
The committee has asked to submit a video recording of the public hearing.
Vedanta had sought environmental clearance to its block at Bicholim and a public hearing for the same was also held on August 11 this year.
