Tribal community awaits court verdict
A decision to allow a UK-listed mining company to go ahead with a controversial £470 million bauxite project that will devastate the lives of thousands of tribal people in Orissa state is expected to be given the go ahead next month.
Following a Supreme Court hearing on Friday (October 29), Vedanta Resources is expected to go ahead with plans to extract bauxite from the Niyamgiri Hills in the eastern state of Orissa, which will destroy the lives of over 10,000 tribal people.
Vedanta has faced strong opposition since it was awarded mining rights in 2004. The 4,000ft peak is regarded as a living god by local people who depend upon the forest where they farm, hunt and collect food.
"You cannot put a price on your god, your children and your emotions. It goes beyond money," Bratindi Jena, a represenative of ActionAid, an opposition group, said. "Our life
revolves around the mountain. However much the company spends is immaterial. The community is going to be wiped out because we cannot exist in other places."
"Our faith on judiciary will be shattered for ever, if the final decision goes against protection of Niyamgiri. Existence of thousands of indigenous people has revolved around this sacred mountain for generations. Their whole way of life, their culture and beliefs are tied to Niyamgiri," she added.
Although the court demanded to know how many local people will be employed in the project and said that the company should pay 1.12 billion rupees (US$28 million) for development in and around the Niyamgiri Hills, the hearing was widely seen as a victory for Vedanta.
Tribal groups gathered outside the court expressed bitter disappointment with the decision.
"The Government has no right to sell this land. It is ignorant of its value – what wealth (sampatti) is there here in Delhi?" they asked. "Could we plough this street? The Judges have committed a sin that sooner or later they
will pay for," they added.
ActionAid's India country director Babu Mathew said the decision would cause "irreversible damage."
"We deeply regret the inability of the Supreme Court to comprehend the genocide that awaits the Adivasi communities and the irreversible damage we are inviting to the planet by the corporate looting of mineral wealth,"
he said.
