Lafarge reiterates its commitment to environment and legal compliances for its operations in Meghalaya.

Online, March 18, 2010 (Newswire.com) - It has been brought to our notice that, a self-styled organization describing themselves as Shella Action Committee had held a Press Conference earlier today and also issued a Statement making several unsubstantiated allegations against Lafarge Umiam Mining Pvt. Ltd (LUMPL).

There is nothing new in the allegations made today by the SAC, which is an unconnected breakaway group of Shella Village Durbar - that neither represents the Shella or Nongtrai Durbar where the LUMPL operations are located. They have been advocating against the continuation of the project on various fictitious grounds for a long time.

In a representation submitted to the Chief Minster of Meghalaya, the Nongtrai Durbar stated that the Shella Action Committee does not represent their village or never contributed to the benefits or welfare of the local tribals. SAC's activities are limited to creating disturbances on the smooth operations of LUMPL. Similar allegations made by the SAC in a case filed in Guwahati High Court, were examined by the State Government and found to be false and baseless and, accordingly, the State Government filed an affidavit in the Guwahati High Court to the same effect.

Forest Clearance

LUMPL reiterates that it embarked upon mining operations in Nongtrai and Shella, East Khasi Hills Meghalaya only after receiving clearance from the competent authorities and it has always abided by the determinations as made by the authorities.

After MoEF re-classified the area as forest and required the company to obtain Forest Clearance - the company immediately complied with this directive, stopped the mine and applied for forest clearance permission under Section 2 of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980.

Since then the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) & the Central empowered Committee (CEC) recommended that Forest Clearance under Sec 2 of FCA should be granted with certain conditions.

Subsequently, the Supreme Court granted interim relief to the company to continue mining operations on 23 November, 2007.

In the hearing of February 5th - the Supreme Court raised certain questions regarding the operations relating to transfer pricing etc - pending replies to these points it directed the company to temporarily suspend its mining operations till the date of next hearing.

It may be pertinent to note that the Hon'ble Supreme Court had while temporarily restraining the mining operations till the date of next hearing had very sympathetically considered our position and allowed the movement of the stock of already mined material lying at the source.

The Meghalaya Land Transfer Act allows the transfer of Tribal land in Meghalaya under certain conditions. The Samatha Judgement of Supreme Court - quoted by the SAC in their statement -is, therefore, not applicable to Meghalaya.

LUMPL has fully complied with the Meghalaya Land Transfer Laws and obtained all necessary approvals of the State Government in this regard

Again, the issue of Mortgage of Land is not a new one - it has been heard even earlier before the Meghalaya High-Court, when the company's position had been clarified. LUMPL had obtained requisite approvals for the mortgages from the Government of Meghalaya and the Reserve Bank of India way back in 2005 - which impose necessary conditions so that in the event of non-payment of the loan and for recovery of the same under no circumstances the land will be transferred to a person other than a permanent tribal local resident of the State. Therefore, there is no question of the land holding laws of Meghalaya in relation to the tribals or locals being violated at any point.

LUMPL has submitted all relevant details in the company's affidavit, which will be heard in the court.

Lafarge credentials

Lafarge operates in over 79 countries across the world and operates with strict compliance to the laws of the land. It has an impeccable record on environmental issues and maintains the highest standards of environment compliance to ensure impacts to the environment mitigated and kept well within the laid down norms and standards.

About Lafarge
Lafarge is the world leader in building materials, with top-ranking positions in all of its businesses: Cement, Aggregates & Concrete and Gypsum. With more than 78,000 employees in 78 countries, Lafarge posted sales of Euros 15.9 billion in 2009.

In 2009 and for the fifth year in a row, Lafarge was listed in the 'Global 100 Most Sustainable
Corporations in the World'. With the world's leading building materials research facility, Lafarge places innovation at the heart of its priorities, working for sustainable construction and architectural creativity.

Additional information is available on the web site at www.lafarge.com