'Govt never imposed penalty of Rs 200 cr on Adani port, SEZ'

New Delhi, Aug 8 () The government has "never" imposed a penalty of Rs 200 crore on

Adani

port and SEZ,

Rajya Sabha

was informed today. "The government has never imposed the penalty of Rs 200 crore on Adani port and SEZ and accordingly the question of withdrawl does not arise," Environment Minister

Anil Madhav Dave

said in a written reply. The

Environment Ministry

had earlier in July termed as "incorrect" reports that Adani Port and

SEZ Ltd

(APSEZ) was spared a hefty fine of Rs 200 crore for environmental damage during construction of

Mundra

port. The

Ministry

had said that it had imposed "more serious" responsibility on the firm without any cost limit. "The inference drawn by the news report is not correct. The present government has not cancelled fine of Rs 200 crore. This decision of the ministry is much more stringent than asking for Rs 200 crore from

APSEZL

... "...because here in this case whatever has been recommended by the

Sunita Narain Committee

for damage restoration and further conservation has to be borne by APSEZL which otherwise was limited to Rs 200 crore," the Ministry had said in a statement earlier. Dave in July in Rajya Sabha had said, "No penalty was imposed by the Ministry for violating conditions of environment, forest, coastal regulation zone clearance in the last two years." He was asked whether the government has waived the penalty imposed on certain companies recently. TDS IKA RT IKA