Tribals reject Niyamgiri hills mining proposal at 3rd Gram Sabha meeting

BHUBANSWAR: There seems to be no respite for Vedanta as the third Gram Sabha meeting held at Tadijhola village in Odisha's Kalahandi district on Tuesday saw the Dongaria Kondhs rejecting the bauxite mining proposal atop the Niyamgiri hill.

"Niyamgiri is our home...it is our God. We cannot live without it," said Rajendra Gouda, a local resident. At least 19 of the 22 adult Dongaria Kondhs attended the Gram Sabha proceedings which was held under the direct supervision of district sessions judge Pradip Kumar Jena. "The residents of Tadijhola rejected the bauxite mining proposal. We will submit our report accordingly," the judge said.

The tribals strongly opposed the bauxite mining proposal in the first and second Gram Sabha meetings held on July 18 and 22. At least 12 Gram Sabhas would be held by August 18 to decide if bauxite could be mined from Niyamgiri. The outcomes of the Niyamgiri Gram Sabhas are being closely watched by different interest groups as it would set precedence for allocation of mines in tribal dominated regions in the country. The Supreme Court in its April 18 order asked the Odisha government to conduct Gram Sabhas to ascertain the opinion of the Dongaria Kondhs, a primitive tribal group, living in Niyamgiri.