Now, Vedanta Group under OCCRP lens

New Delhi: Mining and oil giant Vedanta ran a covert lobbying 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 Soros-funded organisation in a new report 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, also successfully lobbied to have public hearings scrapped for exploratory drilling in oil blocks it won in government auctions. Since then, six of Cairn’s controversial oil projects in Rajasthan have been approved despite local opposition, it claimed.