Tribals oppose Vedanta’s mine bauxite lease plan

Bhubaneswar, Jun 18 After the tribals in Southern Orissa, the tribals in Western Orissa are now gearing up to launch an agitation against the Vedanta Resources. The London-based company is proposing to mine bauxite from the Gandhamardan hills at Paikmal in Bargarh district.

Vedanta Resources has filed its application with the Paikmal tehsildar for lease of 1,150 acre for bauxite mining and establishment of a refinery. This has irked the locals who are agitating against mining the area since 1980. It was Central-sector Balco, which first attempted to mine bauxite from the area in 1980. Then in 1990, the Continental Resources of Canada made a futile attempt to take the mineson lease. In 2007, the Central-sector Nalco applied for the bauxite reserve in Gandhamardan. However, the local resistance detered the Companies from going ahead with their plans.

Vedanta's proposal has triggered sharp reactions among the locals. The Gandhamardan Surakhya Yuba Parisad, which had spearheaded the agitation in 1980, has warned the government as well as the private company against taking the mines on lease. “The government would be responsible for the consequences,” cautioned the Parisad leaders Pradeep Purohit and Dhiren Mohanty.

The Congress Legislative Party chief whip, Satya

Bhusan Sahu, who is also the local MLA, has written a letter to the chief minister, Naveen Patnaik, urging him not to allow Vedanta to mine bauxite from the Gandhamardan hill range. Since the Nrusinghanath and Hari Sankar temples are on thehill tops, the mining activity will hurt the religious sentiment of the local people, he has stated. He also mentioned that the bio-diversity of the region would be destroyed.

Source: NewsMine