Company gets nod to ramp up limestone production in state

NEW DELHI, July 29: Lafarge Surma Cement’s mining company in Meghalaya has received environment clearance from the government of India to more than double its yearly limestone production capacity to 50 lakh tonnes.
Meghalaya-based Lafarge Umiam Mining Pvt Ltd, a fully owned subsidiary of Lafarge Surma Cement, previously got a clearance to produce and transport a maximum of 20 lakh tonnes of limestone a year to a manufacturing plant in Bangladesh.
The latest approval will now allow the cement giant to expand its production capacity.
“The company will need more limestone, the raw material for producing clinker in the coming years as Lafarge and Holcim have started the merger process of their cement companies in Bangladesh in line with their global amalgamation plan,” an official said.
It is however not clear how the company got permission for more limestone from Meghalaya where pressure groups are opposing the same.
Lafarge Surma Cement started production in Bangladesh in 2006 after it established its plant in Sunamganj, which was the first fully integrated dry process cement factory in Bangladesh connected with India.
After mining in Meghalaya, the limestone travels cross-border through a 17-kilometre-long conveyor belt directly to the Lafarge plant at Chhatak in Sunamganj, Bangladesh for transformation into Supercrete brand cement.