Public hearing for Vedanta’s mining ends abruptly amid opposition by villagers

The public hearing for grant of environmental clearance for Vedanta’s proposed bauxite mining in Sijimali area of Odisha’s Koraput district ended abruptly on Monday with most of the villagers opposing the project, alleging that it would destroy the sources of water.

In February this year, the Anil Agarwalla-owned Vedanta Limited won the bid to mine the Sijimali bauxite reserve that straddles the districts of Kalahandi and Rayagada over an area of 1549 hectare.

With 311 million tonnes of bauxite reserve, it would cater to the needs of its existing 2 million tonne per annum alumina refinery plant in Lanjigarh area of Kalahandi district that was set up around two decades ago in the hope of getting bauxite from the Niyamgiri mountains, about 45 km from the Sijimali reserve.

In 2014, the ministry of environment and forests rejected Stage II approval for diversion of 660 hectares of forest land for the Niyamgiri mines after 12 gram sabhas voted unanimously against the mine. Niyamgiri had about 70 million tonnes of bauxite ore, whereas Sijimali mine has four times more deposit.

On Monday, at the public hearing organised by the State Pollution Control Board at Sunger village of Rayagada district for grant of environmental clearance to Vedanta for mining, a majority of the villagers there opposed the proposal.

Karthika Naik, a villager from Bontej, one of the 18 villages likely to be affected by the mining, said mining would not only affect the source of water to their agricultural fields, but lead to water pollution.

“We depend on agriculture and the water comes from the streams of the Sijimali. Our entire livelihood depends on millets, paddy and other crops. Sijimali is our Goddess and we worship the mountains as per our local tradition. Our lives, livelihood and religion will be completely destroyed if the mining project starts there. Once Vedanta starts mining the bauxite reserve, we fear water will dry up from the streams. Sijimali is ours, not the property of any company,” he said.

The hearing, however, stopped within two hours of its start as affected villagers of Kantamal, Bundel and Sirambai vehemently opposed the project. The Maoists had earlier called upon the people to boycott the public hearing.

At the meeting, a villager named Sachidananda Majhi said the people of the area have seen what is happening in the name of development over the last decades. “Be it Utkal Alumina or Nalco, the industries by these companies in Koraput and Rayagada have not helped the tribals a bit. The local youths have not got jobs in these companies. Why would we trust Vedanta when we know the experience is going to be equally bad,” he said.

Suna Majhi, a tribal from one of the affected villages, said the villagers cannot sell the hills and mountains to companies. “We are also facing the heat of the local police who arrested 90 people implicating them in rape cases as well as Maoist activities. When we ask about development, the government resorts to hooliganism, and with the help of police false cases are being registered. Under these circumstances, how can we support mining?” he asked.

Earlier, the Sijimali Sangharsh Samiti, a body of activists and locals opposing the proposed mining, urged for cancellation of the public hearing alleging that an air of fear existed in the area over indiscriminate arrest of villagers. “After the Dongria Kondhs stopped Vedanta from mining Niyamgiri hills, the district administration terrorised the villagers. But today’s public hearing has proved that the people have won against the administration,” said Prafulla Samantara, a leading activist and winner of the prestigious Goldman Environmental prize.

Rayagada district collector Swadha Dev Singh, however, refuted allegations that villagers were terrorised. “Had they been frightened, they would not have spoken against the proposed mining. We also got two of the 23 arrested persons to the public hearing,” she said.

Vedanta in a press statement said the public hearing was successful.

“This will be the first auctioned Bauxite Block to be opened in the State & is expected to meet the acute shortage of Bauxite in Odisha market. Odisha is known as the Aluminium Capital of India & opening of Bauxite mine will go a long way to strengthen this position. Aluminium industry creates large scale employment & availability of Bauxite in Odisha will give boost to Aluminium production. It is expected that Aluminium production in Odisha will get doubled in next five years creating more than 4 lakh jobs,” the company said.

Apart from the public hearing, Vedanta needs several more clearance including forest diversion clearance as the mining lease area includes 699.7 hectares of forest land. It also has to prepare a plan for wildlife conservation since two villages affected by the project fall within the notified eco-sensitive zone of the Karlapat Wildlife sanctuary. Since the mining project is likely to displace 100 families from 18 villages and also affect livelihoods of an additional 500 families, Vedanta has to prepare a rehabilitation and resettlement plan for them.