Mined Minds

The setting up of Vedanta Alumina Ltd [VAL], has disrupted the lives of thousands of poor tribals in the villages of Orissa: Kapaguda, Belemba, Basantpura, Teriguda, Anandapore, Topoguda, Hudingpadar, Gedugumma. It will also drive the last nail in the landscape of rare and precious flora and fauna of the region. The proposed mining areas is situated on the Niyamgiri reserve forest of Kalahandi [south] forest division and Khamdesi and Niyamgiri proposed Reserve Forest and Jungle block [protected forest] of Rayagada Forest Division. Earlier in January 2005, a special two-person committee appointed by the Supreme Court found Vedanta guilty of violating the Forest [Conservation] Act, observing that the Company had started building its refinery on forestland for which it did not yet have proper clearance. The committee recommended that the Company be allotted a mining site elsewhere as the project would have a disastrous effect on the pristine Niyamgiri ecology.
Till date a number of families have been established by VAL, yet, the company has failed to allay the suffering of the poor villagers. The contractors are not paying the villagers their daily wages. These villagers don’t have any work; hence no money and other basic amenities.
They are facing starvation. They are the victims of the district administration’s apathy, police atrocities and constant terror by goons hired by the company.
The villagers alleged that the company with the connivance of the district administration and police made false promises in the Gram Sabha, and got their thumb marks. Daina Majhi, 45 says, “We are determined not to leave our villages even if it means being done to death. The forest is ours, this soil is ours and it goes without saying that we have absolute rights on it,” Bhima Majhi, 42, says with conviction. “One day I was returning from Lanjigarh on my bicycle, some khaki–clad men beat me up with lathis. They openly abused the women returning from the weekly village market. The local SP and the police station refused to accept our FIR and told us to go directly to the court.” Chandra Nayak of Kinrau village, staying in the rehabilitation colony, said. “Despite promises of providing proper accommodation and coaxing us, we are unemployed today; we have lost our cultivable land. How can we survive now? Metro builders are not paying our daily wages since 12 months.” Jaysingh Majhee, convenor of Niyamgiri Surakhsha Samity, said, “Till now the local administration and the state government have not implemented the Supreme Court order and rules are being violated.”
A local official in Lanjigarh said, “The builders are not even paying the legitimate daily wages to the labourers and have written to the concerned authority. If they do not comply within a month then I shall be forced to take action.” The official responded by saying, “I don’t know about all this. But now as I am aware I will try to clear all pending dues within a month.” The state minister for steel and mines, Padmanabh Behera, isn’t at all worried. He says, clinically, “As far as the rehabilitation of people and preserving environment is concerned, laws and policies are open for everybody to see. We will do everything according to the law and as per the direction of the apex court.”
The mining will not only destroy Niyamgiri’s tribal culture and way of life, but will also create extinction of rare species of flora and fauna. If the mining continues, the magic of Niyamgiri will be a grandma’s story, buried in the layers of dust. While the nation must benefit from the exploitation of these mineral resources, we should also consider questions of environmental protection and the human rights of tribals. It is through enlightened developmental policies and humane, sensitive consensus alone that we can resolve such dilemmas of progress where the people are the eternal losers. But for how long?