Hindustan Zinc, a Vedanta Group company, has joined hands with Rajasthan Government to build a sewage treatment plant (STP) in Udaipur with an investment of Rs 170 crore.

A tripartite agreement was signed recently between Hindustan Zinc, Udaipur Municipal Corporation (UMC) and state-government owned Urban Improvement Trust. The 20 million litre per day STP will be on ‘Design Build Own Operate and Transfer’ basis. The treatment plant will treat domestic sewage and not industrial sewage.

Billionaire Anil Agarwal’s Vedanta Group has offered Rs 17,000 crore ($3.4 billion) to buy the government’s remaining stakes in Hindustan Zinc Ltd and Bharat Aluminium Co, a ministry official said.

A panel of bureaucrats from ministries, including law, corporate affairs, finance and mining, met yesterday and decided to seek the advice of a group of ministers on the proposal, Vishwapati Trivedi, secretary at the ministry of mines, told reporters in New Delhi.

The successfully concluded $8.48-billion Cairn-Vedanta deal has come “under cloud” following instances of serious human rights violations, default of payment, environmental damage in its mining and metal projects in India, as pointed by the Internal Security section of the Home Ministry against Vedanta and its group of companies.

Nearly 15 months after first announcing the deal, Vedanta Resources on Thursday announced the completion of its acquisition of a controlling stake in Cairn India. Vedanta has acquired 58.5 per cent in Cairn India for a total consideration of $8.67 billion, the third-largest acquisition ever by an Indian enterprise globally.

The Home Ministry has given its approval to London-listed miner Vedanta Resources' buying majority stake in Cairn India for $8.7 billion.

The Home Ministry, while giving the security no-objection certificate (NOC), highlighted eight areas of concern, including 64 legal proceedings against Vedanta and its subsidiaries in various courts, sources privy to the development said.

Environment minister Jayanthi Natar-ajan can’t easily disown the legacy of her predecessor, it seems. Her ministry has hardened its stand on the demand for release of coal blocks for mining in thickly forested areas in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, a move that could adversely impact at least three dozen steel, power and cement projects. Natarajan has taken the safer option of referring the question of releasing coal blocks from these strictly no-go areas to the Cabinet.

Ending a federal tax break for wind farms in India, the largest market for turbines after China and the US, would cause a $540 million drop in demand just as suppliers including General Electric (GE) expand local capacity.

Wind park installations may fall 15% in the financial year starting April 2012 from the 2,600 mw projected for this year should the benefit be discontinued, said an analyst.

Stringent pollution norms to hit unorganised producers; with demand booming, organised firms step in.
India

Shubhashish / Mumbai December 8, 2010, 0:58 IST

Vedanta

Metals & Mining Major Plans To Buy Govt Stakes In Balco By August & In Hindustan Zinc Subsequently
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