NGT orders probe into illegal sand mining at Gunadei Brahmani river quarry
The order came in response to a petition filed by Talcher-based Youth United for Sustainable Environment Trust. The petition alleged large-scale violations of the Sustainable Sand Mining Management Guidelines, 2016, at the quarry, which spans 11.80 acre in Gunadei village under Odapada tehsil.
The Trust claimed that the project was continuing operations illegally, without the necessary Environmental Clearance (EC) transfer and in violation of conditions attached to the original EC granted in favour of the tehsildar on March 30, 2021.
The bench comprising Justice B Amit Sthalekar and Dr Arun Kumar Verma, issued notices to the state government, SEIAA, State Pollution Control Board, MoEF&CC, and the lessee. The five-member fact-finding committee has been tasked to investigate the site and submit a report within three weeks. In the order, the bench noted the EC was liable to be revoked after May 2022 if a satisfactory Annual Rate of Replenishment Study was not submitted, a condition that remains unmet.
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Business Standard
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- Business Standard
Vedanta rejects baseless allegations, calls Viceroy's claims unfounded
Continuing its triad against mining Moghul Anil Agarwal's Vedanta group, US-based Viceroy Research has alleged that the group's semiconductor unit was a "sham commodities trading operation", designed to avoid classification as an NBFC, a charge the mining conglomerate dismissed as baseless. US short seller Viceroy Research, which last week published a scathing report about Vedanta Group and followed it with similar reports on group companies, in fresh allegations said Vedanta Ltd's subsidiary, Vedanta Semiconductors Pvt Ltd, was part of a scheme to allow the Mumbai-listed firm to remit brand fees to parent Vedanta Resources in April this year, when it faced a severe liquidity crisis. In a statement, Vedanta spokesperson said the group "strongly rejects the baseless allegations made in the report regarding Vedanta Semiconductors Pvt Ltd (VSPL)". "All business activities of VSPL have been transparently disclosed and are in line with statutory norms," it said. Viceroy said, "VSPL is a sham commodities trading operation designed to improperly avoid classification as a Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC)". "This scheme was devised to facilitate Vedanta Ltd's remittance of brand fees to Vedanta Resources' (VRL) in April 2025, when it faced a severe liquidity crisis," Viceroy said. "VSPL's operational illusion needs 24 months of regulatory silence to fulfil its purpose, repaying its offshore lenders and hiding the near-catastrophe of April 2024. While credit analysts are snoozing through the alarm bells, India's regulators are famously light sleepers." In April 2024, Vedanta Limited (VEDL) faced a severe liquidity crisis. "In response, VEDL reactivated VSPL, not as a semiconductor venture, but as a zero-margin trading entity, whose operations appear to consist entirely of paper-based commodity trading." "VSPL tapped offshore lenders for a short-term, INR-denominated, 10 per cent NCDs secured by VEDL's stake in HZL (equivalent to 1 per cent of outstanding shares). VSPL then began trading commodities (copper, silver, gold) on a zero-margin basis reminiscent of wash trading," Viceroy alleged. VSPL, it said, remitted the loan to VEDL as a 24-month 12 per cent loan, with the spread intended to cover the sham operation's costs. The semiconductor unit, superficially an operating entity, would face reduced scrutiny for loan repayments under FEMA, Companies Act, PMLA and AML frameworks. "VSPL will likely have to continue these sham operations until FY27, when the loans fall due and repayment will have to be routed back through it. If, at any point, the regulators intervene at VSPL, the lender group is likely facing a total wipeout," the US short-seller alleged. Vedanta spokesperson in the statement said, "Loans between VSPL and Vedanta Ltd were executed in full compliance with applicable laws, corporate governance standards, and both Vedanta Ltd and VSPL have consistently reported accurate loan terms, interest rates, and collateral in line with statutory norms," it said, adding that it would encourage stakeholders to only reply on verified disclosures and audited financials. Viceroy, on July 9, said it has taken a short position against the debt of Vedanta Resources, the UK-based parent of Indian miner Vedanta Ltd, and alleged in the report that the British firm is "systematically draining" its Indian unit. Vedanta had dismissed the report as "a malicious combination of selective misinformation and baseless allegations", and that Research issued it without contacting the group. Viceroy, in its latest report, said despite Vedanta's claim that it failed to engage, it is yet to receive a response to the issues flagged since July 9. "For a company so quick to dismiss our findings, one might expect answers to be equally swift. It's been over a week since we formally requested clarification," the short seller added.
Time of India
an hour ago
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Digital arrest scam: Delhi doctor duped of Rs 15 lakh; 2 arrested
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Hans India
an hour ago
- Hans India
Patna hospital murder case: Main accused among 4 arrested in Kolkata
Kolkata: The Patna Police, on Sunday, have shown as arrested four of the ten people, who were detained from two different places in Kolkata in connection with the murder of a gangster, Chandan Mishra, in a Patna hospital recently. The four shown as arrested on Sunday by Patna Police include one of the prime accused, Tauseef a.k.a. Badshah, his associate Nishu Khan, and two others. Ten people were detained from two different places in Kolkata, namely New Town in the northern outskirts of Kolkata and Anandapur in the southern outskirts of the city, on Saturday, following joint operations by Patna Police and the sleuths of the Special Task Force (STF) of Kolkata Police. The detained persons were taken to Patna on Saturday night. Sources from Kolkata Police said that the murder of Chandan Kumar alias Chandan Mishra was a result of his rivalry with another Bihar-based gangster, Sheroo, who is presently lodged in a correctional home in West Bengal's Purulia district. It is suspected that Sheroo had masterminded the murder from the Purulia prison and hired Tauseef alias Badshah and his team as contract killers for the murder. As per information accessed by the investigators so far, the ten detained people from Kolkata were directly involved in the murder of Chandan Kumar alias Chandan Mishra, a murder convict who was out on medical parole. Mishra was shot dead by five armed assailants inside the ICU of a private hospital in Patna on July 17. He was lodged at Beur Jail in Patna and had gone to the hospital for treatment on parole. At least 24 cases were pending against Mishra in several police stations of the Buxar district in Bihar. He was serving a sentence in one of those cases. According to the police, Mishra was killed a day before he was scheduled to be released from the hospital.
