Centre pulls up Odisha government for reluctance to hold gram sabhas, despite Supreme Court ruling

NEW DELHI: The Centre has raised concerns over Odisha government’s reluctance to let all the gram sabhas in Raygada and Kalahandi districts decide the fate of Vedanta’s alumina refinery and bauxite mining project in Niyamgiri as per the Supreme Court.

Odisha government has told the Centre that it will conduct gram sabhas in only 12 villages of the two districts, a person familiar with the matter told ET, adding that the state government took this position after its law department advised it to read the apex court’s final order in conjunction with the interim order. Taken aback by this interpretation, the Centre has taken up the issue with both Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Governor SC Jamir.

Union Tribal Affairs Minister V Kishore Chandra Deo has shot off an urgent letter to the governor. “There is an urgent need for your intervention to safeguard the constitutional protection, guaranteed to the tribals and inhabitants of Rayagada and Kalahandi districts which are located in Schedule V areas,” the minister has written. “It is also unfortunate that the directions of the Supreme Court are being treated with scant respect by the state government of Odisha which intends to hold gram sabhas only in 12 villages.”

The Supreme Court had in a landmark decision in April linked the continuance of the Vedanta project to the Dongria and Kutia Kondh tribes’ culture and religious rights. The apex court had asked the state government to conduct gram sabhas in all the villages of the two districts to gauge whether the tribals felt that their religious rights to worship their deity Niyam Raja, just 10 km from the mining site, was infringed upon by the project. The tribal affairs ministry, which was asked to coordinate the entire process, had laid down steps to arrive at the exact number of villages where the forest dwellers had customary religious and cultural rights.

The state government has, however, said that it had received such claims from just a dozen villages. The Union ministry has challenged this claim, telling the state government that the ministry has received copies of several claims under the Forest Rights Act for rights, including religious and cultural rights, over Niyamgiri forests and sacred areas from people in villages other than the 12 cited by the state government.