OCCRP: Vedanta ran covert lobbying campaign to weaken environment laws

NT Bureau, Agencies

New Delhi: Mining and oil giant Vedanta led by Anil Agrawal, ran a "covert" campaign to weaken key environmental regulations during the Covid pandemic, the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) alleged in a new report.

After coming out with a damning report on Adani group promoters allegedly using proxies to route money in their own shares, the George Sorosfunded organisation said the Indian government approved the changes without public consultation and implemented them using "illegal methods".

"In one case, Vedanta led a push to ensure mining companies could produce up to 50 per cent more without new environmental approvals," it said.

Vedanta's oil business, Cairn India, lobbied to have public hearings scrapped for exploratory drilling in oil blocks it won in government auctions, OCCRP added.

Reached for comments, a Vedanta spokesperson said the group “operates with an objective of import substitution by enhancing domestic production in a sustainable manner.”

“In view of the same, continuous representations are submitted for consideration to the government in the best interest of national development and India’s march towards self-reliance in natural resources,” the spokesperson said without refuting the OCCRP report.

In January 2021, Vedanta group founder and chairman Anil Agarwal told the then environment minister Prakash Javadekar that the government could add impetus to India’s rapid economic recovery by allowing mining companies to boost production by up to 50 per cent without having to secure new environmental clearances, OCCRP said.

“Apart from immediately boosting production and economic growth, this will generate huge revenue for the government and create massive jobs,” Agarwal wrote to Javadekar, recommending that the change could be made with “a simple notification”.

Javadekar quickly got to work. “VIMP [Very Important], he scribbled on the letter, directing the secretary of his ministry and the director general of forestry to “discuss [the] policy issue.”

Previous industry efforts to push for a similar change had stalled. But this time, Agarwal would get what he wanted, OCCRP said.

“In early 2022, after a series of closed-door meetings, India’s environment ministry loosened regulations to allow mining companies to increase production by up to 50 per cent without needing to hold public hearings, which many in the industry considered the most onerous requirement of the environmental clearance process,” it said.

OCCRP said it combed through thousands of government documents -- ranging from internal memos and the minutes of closeddoor meetings to letters like the one from Agarwal -- obtained using freedom of information requests.

“The records show government officials tailored the rules in line with requests made by the industry, and in particular Vedanta,” it claimed.