The company had planned to expand the capacity of its alumina refinery from one million tonne per annum to six million Allegations of irregularities have been made before the Odisha State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) against the expansion project of alumina refinery of Vedanta Alumina Limited (VAL) at Lanjigarh in Kalahandi district of Odisha. The Odisha unit of the CPI-ML (New Democracy) and environmental activist Prafulla Samantra, who also is the president of Lokshakti Abhiyan, Odisha, have written to the SPCB to consider their objections and not act like ‘agent’ of the company. Mr. Samantra and spokesperson of CPI-ML (New Democracy) Bhala Chandra Sarangi said the VAL had violated environmental norms at its existing refinery and the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report regarding its expansion plan had suppressed facts. The VAL planned to expand capacity of its one million tonne per annum (MTPA) capacity alumina refinery at Lanjigarh to six MTPA production capacity. According to them, till now VAL and State government had not identified raw material source for the existing one million tonne per annum (MTPA) capacity of the Lanjigarh refinery after its plan to mine Niyamgiri hills was rejected by tribals at gram sabha on the initiative of the Supreme Court. But now the company wants to expand the production capacity of the plant to six MTPA. The EIA report claims source of bauxite mining for the expansion project was within 3.7 km of the refinery project. In the light of the Supreme Court judgment and the subsequent all 12 gram sabhas denying the approval of bauxite mining in Niyamgiri hills, the EIA report seems to be based on outdated information, they alleged. According to them, the VAL had already completed work on a major portion of the expansion project violating Environment Protection Act 1986. They also alleged that the Terms of Reference (ToR) of the project was initially framed in 2008 and revised in February 2012. “The validity of a ToR for preparing the EIA report is two years and in this case the ToR has lapsed. The data used in preparing the EIA report was collected prior to November 2011. Hence, an EIA report prepared with two-and-half-year-old data makes no relevance now,” said Mr Samantra. They further stated that EIA report was based on data collected during winter season (Nov 2011- February 2012) and have not taken into consideration the environmental parameters in monsoon, post monsoon and summer season. “In fact, Bhawanipatna has recorded the highest temperature of 46 degree Celsius in 2014, while the EIA report mentions that the maximum temperature in project area is 34 degree centigrade. Also, the impact of red mud pond on downstream and Vansadhara river has not been assessed as it was not studied during rainy season,” Mr Samantra added. Mr Sarangi said, the EIA report has ignored the radiation impact due to coal fired power project of the expansion plan although as per National Green Tribunal order, study of radiation impact is mandatory. According to the anti-Vedanta activists, the VAL suppressed information related to environmental hazards in its Environmental Impact Assessment report related to its expansion plan. Urge pollution board to reconsider their objections They allege EIA report suppressed facts