New Delhi: The Centre has concurred with the views of Attorney General G E Vahanvati that French cement giant Lafarge should be allowed to resume mining in the forests of Meghalaya provided it deposit Rs 55 crore for the welfare of the locals. "Whatever the Attorney General (Vahanvati) has said yesterday (in the Supreme Court) we support it," Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said on the sidelines of a function here. He was responding to a query whether the Ministry agree with the Vahanvati's suggestion on imposing conditions on the company before giving it a go-ahead. On Monday, the Supreme Court had sought a response from the Centre on an expert committee's report as also other conditions put by the Attorney General for allowing Lafarge to resume mining in the forests of Meghalaya for its Bangladesh plant. The Environment Ministry was asked to respond by April 26 to the report of the expert committee which had conducted Environmental Compliance Report of the mining area and found that the company had complied with environmental norms. A Special Forest Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan had also sought the ministry's opinion on the five conditions by Vahanvati, including setting up of Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for which Lafarge will have to deposit Rs 55 crore towards NPV for the welfare of the locals around the mines in Meghalaya. During the proceedings, the Attorney General requested the court to expeditiously deal with the matter. (PTI)