Plunder as development

Saswat Panigrahi

The cancelling of Vedanta’s $ 1.7 billion bauxite mining project in Niyamgiri has spiked the Naveen Patnaik-led Odisha Government’s development-through-mining programme and could mean political advantage for the Congress. The next target could be Vedanta’s Lanjigarh refinery against which protest is mounting by the day

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s mega industry plank has come a cropper. London-listed aluminium czar Vedanta Resources, which enjoys the patronage of the BJD Government has received a strong blow with the Ministry of Environment and Forest nixing a $ 1.7 billion proposed bauxite mining project in Niyamgiri.

The decision came following the NC Saxena Committee terming the proposed mining project illegal and recommending that the project should not be allowed to go ahead. The Forest Advisory Committee under the Environment Ministry reviewed the NC Saxena Committee report and made further recommendations on which the Ministry took a final call.

The findings of the four-member experts panel, headed by Naresh C Saxena, member of the National Advisory Council came as a no-holds-barred indictment on Vedanta and the functioning of the BJD Government in Odisha. In its 119-page report, the committee constituted jointly by the Ministry of Environment and Forests and Ministry of Tribal Affairs on June 29 has cited violation of a series of laws by Vedanta in active collusion of the State Government.

“Vedanta Company has consistently violated the Forest Conservation Act, Forest Rights Act, Environment (Protection) Act and the Orissa Forest Act in active collusion with the state officials," the report said.

It was in 2003 that Vedanta Resources had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Odisha Government for construction of an alumina refinery at Lanjigarh in Kalahandi district to process aluminium for export. The Lanjigarh refinery commenced full operations in 2007. The refinery sources minerals from the indigenous mines of Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. To make the aluminium processing cost effective the company proposed to mine Niyamgiri Hills of Kalahandi and Rayagada districts, situated adjoining the refinery and estimated to have approximately 73 million tonnes of mineable ore. The Ministry of Environment had given in-principle approval to Orissa Mining Corporation to mine for Vedanta’s refinery in December 2008 following a Supreme Court order. The Lanjigarh refinery was awaiting green signal from the Environment Ministry for mining the Niyamgiri hills. The proposed mining project involves the diversion of 660.740 hectares of forest land which would lead to axing of 1,21,337 trees.

The proposed Niyamgiri project was likely to affect 5,148 people living in 28 Kondh villages. It includes two of the most endangered primitive tribal groups — the Dongria Kondh and the Kutia Kondh — who are heavily dependent on forest produce for their livelihood. Landless Dalits who live in these villages and are dependent upon the Kondh would also be similarly affected.

“Allowing mining in the proposed mining lease area by depriving two Primitive Tribal Groups of their rights over the proposed mining site in order to benefit a private company would shake the faith of tribal people in the laws of the land which may have serious consequences for the security and well being of the entire country,” the NC Saxena Committee report observed.

The report cited that in the mining project there had been flagrant violation of Forest Conservation Act, Forest Rights Act and Orissa Forest Act while diverting forest land for non-forest purposes. In Niyamgiri — which is protected under Schedule V of Indian Constitution — as per Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, the gram sabhas (hamlets in a Scheduled Area) should be consulted for diversion of forest land under the Forest (Conservation) Act. The rights of the forest dweller over their traditional habitat needs to be recognised first under the Forest Rights Act and then under the Orissa Forest Act. The gram sabhas are the statutory bodies for implementation of the Forest Rights Act. No forest land can be diverted for non-forest purpose unless gram sabhas certify that implementation of the Forest Rights Act is complete.

“… the process of recognition of rights under the Forest Rights Act has not been completed; the consent of the concerned community has neither been sought nor obtained; and the gram sabhas of the area concerned have not certified on both these points as required,” the report said.

As brought out by the report, it is interesting to note that the local authorities had even gone to the extent of providing false certificates to show that the Forest Rights Act has been implemented in the proposed mine areas.

Stating further violation of Forest (Conservation) Act, the report noted that a 3.5 km long road to the proposed mining site was constructed through the forest area, parallel to Vedanta’s conveyor corridor which also formed part of the village forest lands.

The report observed that mining Niyamgiri hills would have severely degraded the ecosystem of the rich wildlife habitat. The panel has also found serious faults with Vedanta’s Lanjigarh refinery project as well. In a severe violation of conditions of operation, Vedanta Resources had expanded the existing annual production capacity of its refinery six-fold — from one million tonnes per annum to six million tonnes per annum — without obtaining environmental clearance. “This expansion, its extensive scale and advanced nature, is in complete violation of the Environment (Protection) Act and is an expression of the contempt with which this company treats the laws of the land,” the report said highlighting the violation of the Environment (Protection) Act by Vedanta refinery.

Stating that Vedanta flagrantly violated the Forest Conservation Act in its refinery project, the report said, “The company is in illegal occupation of 26.123 hectares of village forest lands enclosed within the refinery premises.” “This… shows an appalling degree of collusion on the part of the concerned officials,” it added.

The report further stated that the refinery has been accorded clearance under the Environmental Protection Act by falsifying and concealing information about the nature/designation of land acquired. “From the beginning, the State Administration and Vedanta Alumina both knew that large tracts of forest land were required for the refinery as well as for mining. However, they deliberately misled the MoEF on this point,” the report said.

The NC Saxena Committee report did not spare the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest and the Ministry of Tribal Affairs either for turning a blind eye to the project. Even when the proposal for diversion of forestlands for setting up the refinery was pending before the MoEF; how Vedanta was accorded environmental clearance on the same basis has been questioned. The committee also slammed the Ministry of Tribal Affairs saying it is so weak to the extent that it cannot implement its own laws related to displacement and tribal welfare.

The expert panel in its report shows in both Niyamgiri and Lanjigarh projects, Vedanta have thrown existing laws out of the window and hence recommended to set aside both the projects. But the MoEF has rejected environment clearance to the Niyamgiri mining project only, which would automatically seal the fate of Lanjigarh refinery project. It remains to be seen what actions to be taken against the culprits. But, for the tribals of Niyamgiri, only half the battle is won. As long as the Lanjigarh refinery exists, threat looms large over Niyamgiri.

Meanwhile, the once-neglected Niyamgiri has been witness to some never-seen-before games of political oneupmanship. Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi has become the new patron of the Niyamgiri movement. “I am your soldier in Delhi,” Mr Gandhi told a tribal rally claiming his stake as the new ‘tribal messiah’. A shamed BJD termed the NC Saxena Committee report as politically motivated and drew inferences connecting it to the visit of the Gandhi scion. The BJP demanded the resignation of the Chief Minister on moral grounds.

“Naveen Patnaik’s blueprint of corruption is out in the open. The State Government was caught red-handed selling Odisha’s riches to private firms at the cost of the rights of the poor. Naveen Patnaik is anti-tribal and anti-poor. He has no right to continue in the office,” Odisha BJP president and former Union Minister for Tribal Affairs Jual Oram said.

-- Appeared in the OpEd page of The Pioneer on September 06, 2010