Environment Ministry shuts door on Orissa Mining Corporation's plan to mine Niyamgiri Hills

NEW DELHI: The environment ministry has shut the door on Orissa Mining Corporation’s (OMC’s) plan to mine the Niyamgiri Hills to provide Vedanta’s alumina plant with bauxite, while leaving the door open for a possible dilution of the Forest Rights Act in other project areas.

In an affidavit submitted to the Supreme Court, MoEF cited provisions of the Forest Rights Act and other factors such as the fact that it was a scheduled area and religious rights of the tribals to oppose Vedanta’s JV partner OMC’s mining plans. But MoEF left the scope for the Act to be diluted in other areas.

Activists expressed disappointment, saying it appeared to run counter to public statements made by environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan and tribal affairs minister V Kishore Chandra Deo.