Niyamgiri Hills, Orissa:
It's a battle that's being presented as India's real-life Avatar -mountains that are sacred for very different reasons to the tribalsthat live around them, and a UK corporate giant. (
Read: Vedanta responds to charges of environmental violations)
Now, the Environment Ministry has stepped in to keep Vedanta - a company promoted by Anil Agarwal - from developing its plans to mine in Orissa's Niymagiri Hills. Buried deep within are huge reserves of bauxite. The Dongria and Kutia Kondh - the tribals here - have been officially recognized as primitive tribal groups that need special protection. The hills are their only habitat.
Vedanta is already in substantial business in this part of Orissa's Kalahandi district. It operates a 5000-crore alumina refinery plant set up in 2006 in Lanjigarh, at the base of the Niyamgiri Hills to process alumina from bauxite ore. Currently, the bauxite is bought from 14 different mines in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Gujarat. The transportation costs are formidable - so Vedanta wants to mine the bauxite that it says lies just three Kilometres from its refinery.
The union government says it has evidence that at the refinery in Lanjigarh, Vedanta has exploited the bauxite-rich area in violation of environmental laws and tribals' forest rights. Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said, "There has been a very serious violation of Environment Protection Act, Forest Conservation Act and the Forest Rights Act...there have been no emotions and no politics and no prejudice involved in this report." He also denied that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has played a part in his decision. Two years ago, Gandhi visited the Niyamgiri tribals and promised them his support. On Thursday, he is scheduled to meet them again.
The government's position is shaped heavily by the report of a committee set up by the Ministry of Environment & Forests to study whether Vedanta had complied with environmental laws and had therefore passed the test that would give it a "Stage 2" or final clearance from the government.
Headed by NC Saxena, the committee submitted a damning report last week in which it suggested that the company had broken the law for its mining project as well as its Refinery plant at Lanjigarh. The Committee suggested that the Vedanta operations endanger nearly 750 square km of forest land. (
Watch: NC Saxena on what Vedanta did wrong)
The NC Saxena Committee was critical of the Orissa government's decision to clear the project; its report stated that government officials colluded with Vedanta to allow illegal activity including encroaching upon at least 26 hectares of village forest land within its refinery. From its original plans of refining 1 million tons of bauxite, Vedanta has, Ramesh says, illegally expanded its operations to handle 6 million tons. Ramesh has now said the company must explain why its refinery shouldn't be shut down.
In 2004, the Orissa government committed to 150 million tonnes of bauxite for Vedanta's alumina refinery; it also stated that the initial supply - upto 78 million tones - would come from the Niyamgiri mine. In the light of Ramesh's emphatic rejection of that, the company claims ,"In view of the ongoing delay in approval of the Niyamgiri Mining, the Government of Orissa is actively considering allocation of alternate source of bauxite to Vedanta's alumina refinery, from the state of Orissa."
The Chief Minister of Orissa, Navin Patnaik, expressed his disappointment with the union government's stand. "I certainly hope this is not politics because this has to do with the development and the progress of the state. After all, when these big investments come, the state's revenue goes up, our young people get many jobs, infrastructure is built in very backward areas ...after all, Kalahandi has never received major investment before this alumina plant."
In 2007, a Public Interest Litigation challenged Vedanta's mining project in the Supreme Court. A year later, the court cleared the project, but said the government would make the final call "in accordance with law".
Vedanta has offered in its defense the promise that it plans to mine only 3.5 square kmeters of the 250-km Niyamgiri Range. The company also says that there is considerable local support for the project: 5000 locals helped to build its alumina refinery. In Vedanta's estimate, its mine will bring Rs. 1,000 crores to the region every year, and will provide jobs for 600,000 locals.