In an ominous development for the struggling indigenous Kondh people in Orissa's Niyamgiri area, Vedanta, the UK-based mining giant, reportedly attempted to move in land-movers for constructing a road leading to the Niyamgiri mountain top for mining of bauxite in the dead of the night on Wednesday.
Spontaneous protest
Hundreds of tribal, including 300 women and 500 men, laid siege along the unpaved forest road towards the sacred Niyamgiri starting in the wee hours, to stop the heavy vehicles.
The spontaneous protest lasted through the day, with villagers returning to homes only after the vehicles retreated.
"The protest took place near Kadamguda, after villagers got wind of heavy vehicles -- used for laying roads -- making way to the mountain top in the dead of the night," says Bratindi Jena, who is a part of Niyamgiri Suraksha Samiti, a platform spearheading the campaign to save the mountain from being mined.
In for a long haul
"The local tribal community is holding a meeting today to decide on a round-the-clock vigil of the forest road to peacefully resist attempt to create an access to the mountain," says local lawyer and activist Siddhartha Nayak
The villages on the foothills of Niyamgiri have been protesting for the past several months against the 12-feet wide forest road being widened to 30 feet by Vedanta.
"Three groups have been campaigning at the overtures of the company. Yesterday we also spotted a helicopter overhead when the land-movers were at the foothills. They were perhaps clicking images to show the work has begun," adds Nayak.
Lies yet again
The incident comes in the wake of Anil Agarwal, who owns Vedanta Resources, stating in a press conference on Monday that: "We have got the full clearance of the Supreme Court for bauxite mining in the Niyamgiri hills and have deputed staff in large number for initiating the work."
Despite the the Supreme Court order in July 2008 favouring Vedanta, the mining project has not secured all the required clearances under the law, including a public hearing of the tribal community to be impacted.
Therefore, the action of the company to initiate mining is illegal and the shareholders of the company need to be made aware of the implications surrounding this action by the management.
Breach of rights
In a damning 2005 report, a Supreme Court panel, the Central Empowered Committee, accused Vedanta of violating environmental guidelines. It said Vedanta had "deliberately and consciously concealed the involvement of the forest land in the project".
In addition to environmental concerns, two of India's strongest Constitutional guarantees will be overturned if mining goes ahead: The right of a 'primitive tribal group' to their territorial integrity and to decide on their own path of development (Indian Constitution schedule V) and the right to religious practices and beliefs (Article 25).
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
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