New Delhi: The Supreme Court today allowed French firm Lafarge to continue mining operations in Meghalaya for extracting limestone to be used for making cement at its manufacturing plant in Bangladesh.

Lafarge had challenged the order of Union Ministry of Environment and Forests issued in May this year asking the company to stop work at quarries on the ground that mining was not permitted in forest areas.

The multinational had also wanted to transport six lakh tonne of limestone, a key input for making cement, from its mines in Meghalaya to its cement plant in Bangladesh.

A special bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan in an interim order allowed the multinational's plea.

The company had argued the ministry's order amounted to putting an end to supply of raw material to its 255 million dollar cement project in Bangladesh, as it was fully dependent on limestone extracted from East Khasi Hills in Meghalaya. However, it asked the company to reconfirm whether all the necessary clearances were in place now that the area had been declared as a forest.

Besides, the company will have to submit a cost-benefit analysis and a feasibility report.

The order was passed after the court-appointed amicus curie Harish Salve submitted that the multinational should be permitted to continue its operations keeping in view the international sensitivities and the cement project, which was already in place.

Stating that the mineral reserve in eco-sensitive areas would require to be exploited, he said the parameters of the evaluation of the eco-environmental cost-benefits cannot be the same as those in non-sensitive areas.

Source : PTI