Indian government's stand on bauxite mining slammed

The State government’s stand on bauxite mining in Scheduled Areas has drawn flak from the Human Rights Forum.

Ridiculing the stand taken by the Industries and Commerce Department that the permission of the Gram Sabha was required for prospecting only minor minerals under the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act 1996, HRF general secretary V S Krishna pointed out that the PESA had given the Gram Sabha the power to safeguard and preserve community resources or common property resources.

Though the land being leased to APMDC for mining bauxite in the Visakhapatnam Agency is forest land, undertaking mining on that land would affect the water resources of the neighbouring hamlets since the water retained in the bauxite hills is the source of the rivulets and subsoil water that the people depend upon.

It is a well established fact that the hills containing bauxite deposits have a good capacity for retention of water, which would be lost for ever if the hills are opened up for mining, Mr Krishna said in a statement released here. The land proposed to be mined is also a source of minor forest produce such as thatching and dry twigs. It is a source of grazing for animals.

The ownership of such minor forest produce is conferred on the gram sabha by Section 4 (m) (ii) of PESA and that right cannot be unilaterally taken away.