With the nod from the Supreme Court, Vedanta and POSCO may have cleared the legal hurdles relating to mining in Orissa. But the battle on the ground is far from over with villagers pledging to fight till the end to preserve their environment and rich natural resources

Protesting villagers in Orissa’s Gandhmardhan hills fear the go-ahead by the Supreme Court to London-based Vedanta Group’s $ 800 million project to mine bauxite in the area will destroy the rich biodiversity of the hills and disrupt key water sources that feed rivers, springs and streams that irrigate large swathes of farmland.

Around 500 people living in the foothills are protesting by offering water to Lord Shiva in the hope that it will stop Vedanta from carrying out opencast mining in the region. Activists of the Gandhmardhan Suraksha Yuva Parishad (Save Gandhmardhan Committee) believe nothing will deter the desperate villagers from stopping Vedanta set up the mine in the Niyamgiri hills, in the state’s backward Kalahandi district.

The area is home to tribes like the Dongria Kondha, Kutia Kondha and Jharania Kondha that regard both hills as sacred. “This is a war of the people,” says Pradeep Kumar Purohit, advisor to the Gandhmardhan Suraksha Samiti. Purohit stresses that they will not allow any company to enter the area.

However, both state and central governments back the mining project as part of efforts to industrialise and exploit Orissa’s rich mineral resources. Should there be no further delay, mining is expected to start in three or four months.

“We will start building approach roads to the mine by October. We hope to start mining some time around December 2009-January 2010,” says a Vedanta official. “We hope to mine close to 2 million tonnes of bauxite initially. This is likely to be scaled up to around 3 million tonnes to meet the requirements of our 1 million tonne alumina refinery… Our mining plan is ready. We will start environment protection work within six to eight months. Thereafter, the mines have to be exposed by stripping the top soil.”

Sauparna Devi, a protestor, says: “People believe that if Vedanta comes then the hills will be excavated, leading to water pollution. People won’t get pure drinking water. There will also be problems with agriculture. A situation could arise when people will be forced to vacate the place. That is why we will protest till our last breath.”

Vedanta and Korea’s POSCO got a major reprieve recently when the Supreme Court cleared the decks for their mega projects in Orissa. The apex court allowed Vedanta to mine bauxite in the Niyamgiri hills, whilst allowing the conversion of forest land for POSCO’s Rs 52,000 crore integrated steel plant near Paradip.

Both companies have been fighting legal battles over captive mines and the conversion of forest land. Locals and environmentalists had challenged the Orissa government’s decision to hand over the tribal hills to Vedanta and forest land to POSCO.

The court has asked Vedanta to pay 5% of its profits, or Rs 10 crore, towards community development annually, to be eligible to mine the hills. However, petitioners Loka Shakti Abhiyan and the Wildlife Society of Orissa say that money cannot be a substitute for the rivers and other natural wealth of the hills which will be lost forever due to mining.

Says Prafulla Mahantara of Loka Shakti Abhiyan: “People never asked for anything. So they don’t want anything in return for their hills and rivers. They are against any mining in Niyamgiri and will not allow it.”

The Supreme Court order has come against the advice of its own court empowered committee that said, in 2005, that mining should not be allowed in the Niyamgiri hills.

As far as the POSCO venture goes, of the 4,004 acres allotted to POSCO India, 3,300 acres are forest land. The apex court has now granted permission for the conversion of 2,598 acres of this forest land. Accordingly, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests can approve its dereservation.

POSCO and Vedanta may have cleared the legal hurdles but villagers on the ground are hoping the Forest Rights Act (FRA) can stall the takeover of their lands. In a strategic move, Dhinkia, in Jagatsinghpura, the village in the eye of stormy protests against the POSCO plant, has passed a resolution declaring its forests to be ‘protected’ community forests under the FRA.

The Dhinkia villagers have also passed a resolution demanding that any land takeover be stopped until their rights are settled under the Act. The FRA, which is being rolled out across the country, disallows any entity, including the government, from displacing people from forest land until their rights have been settled.

With tribal groups keen to file similar petitions in the Vedanta case as well, the tribal displacement issue could take a new turn, this time in favour of forest-dwellers. Activists say key tribal groups are aware that cases before the apex court have hinged on the Forest Conservation Act and the Environment Protection Act, both of which do not consider tribal or forest-dwellers’ rights, merely dealing with the ‘ecology’ issue.

As of now, however, the Orissa government has not appreciated the move. The local administration has refused to accept the notice from the Dhinkia gram sabha under the FRA. The village council had to finally send it by registered post.

Source: Business Standard, August 13, 2008
            The Statesman, August 12, 2008
           ANI, August 12, 2008
          The Economic Times, August 9, 2008