Odisha to conduct village meetings to ease mining deadlock

The Odisha SC & ST department will instruct the district administration of Kalahandi and Rayagada soon to initiate work at the field level for conducting gram sabhas for deciding the fate of bauxite mining at Niyamgiri hills.

Despite the Supreme Court (SC) verdict dated April 18, the state government is yet to start the process for holding village assembly meetings, citing lack of clarity in the order. Now, after receipt of views from the law department, the SC & ST department is gearing up to hold gram sabhas in 12 villages on Niyamgiri hill slopes.

Meanwhile, the Dongaria Kondhs, the inhabitants of Niyamgiri hills, have vowed not to allow bauxite mining by Vedanta. “We are determined not to allow the company to mine bauxite. We have also apprised the people in all the affected villages about the verdict of the SC during our pada yatra,” the leaders of the Niyamagiri Surakshya Samiti (NSS) said at a public meeting held at Muniguda in Rayagada district. Anti-Vedanta activists who addressed the meeting demanded holding of gram sabhas in all 104 villages which they claimed were to be affected by mining activity.

Vedanta Aluminium Ltd (VAL) was pinning its hopes on opening Niyamgiri mines to feed its one million tonne per annum refinery. The refinery has been under shutdown since December 5 for want of bauxite.