Jindal SAW under green scanner

After Jindal Steel and Power Plant (JSPL), another group company could face trouble for allegedly violating green norms.

This time it is steel-pipe manufacturer Jindal SAW Ltd, which is learnt to have started construction work for its project in the Kutch district of Gujarat, without getting prior environmental clearances.

A public interest litigation (PIL) filed by two villagers of Samagogha, near the project site, says, "Before public hearing scheduled by end of this month and before the mandatory prior environmental clearance is granted in a project of Category-B, where environmental clearance is to be granted by a state-level expert appraisal committee, Jindal SAW Ltd has started construction at the proposed site at village Samagogha, taluka Mundra, district Kutch."

This was a clear violation of the Environmental Impact Assessment Notification of 2006, and instructions issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests under the Environment Rules and Environment Act, the PIL said.

When contacted, a Jindal SAW spokesperson said, "We are waiting for environmental clearance and no construction work has started."

In response to the PIL filed by Mahesh Chandulal Solanki and Aniruddhsinh Kakubha Jethava, the Gujarat High Court has issued a notice to Jindal SAW. The notice has not asked Jindal SAW to stop the construction work. The next court hearing is on April 26.

Jindal SAW, an O P Jindal Group company, is yet to receive a copy of the notice.

Earlier, Congress MP Naveen Jindal-led Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) had also come under the environment ministry's scanner.

The ministry has not taken an official stand on the Jindal SAW issue yet.

Last month, the ministry had asked the Orissa government to issue a show-cause notice to JSPL for starting construction at Angul without receiving environmental clearances.

The ministry, in a letter dated March 21, said, "It is noted that JSPL started construction activity on the non-forest land without obtaining prior forestry clearance under the Forest (Conservation) Act of 1980, which is not in consonance with the environmental clearance accorded to the project."

The ministry further said that in the light of the above, Orissa has been directed to initiate action against the project under Section 19 of the Environment (Protection) Act of 1986 and intimate the ministry about the action taken.

The proposed project of Jindal Saw relates to expansion of its existing DI pipe plant in Mundra by another 200,000 tonnes.

Jindal SAW is one of the leading producers of saw pipes, which is widely used in the energy sector for the transportation of oil and gas.