Civil society members on Saturday in a letter to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik urged cancellation of the bidding process for seven virgin mines, tenders for which have been issued by the Steel and Mines Department for grant of mining lease for iron ore, manganese, dolomite and bauxite.
The CSO members said these virgin mine blocks are located in the districts of Keonjhar, Sundargarh and Kalahandi in deep forest areas having high biodiversity, rich flora and fauna, sal forest and other precious trees. They are the sources of many streams on which the local forest dwellers and tribals depend for survival and cultivation. These areas are also elephant corridors and wildlife sanctuaries, they said.
Recently, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), has warned about the climate change in which Odisha is going to be affected heavily.
Most of the rivers of the State are drying out during the non-moon seasons due to excessive mining activities and deforestation of natural forests ,leading to the extinction of river-streams, they said. It is now well-known that companies of Adani, Arcellor and Mittal, Tatas, Vedanta are the main bidders for these mines. All these companies have their various mines lease in Odisha and they certainly don’t need mines to run their industries in the State. They are mainly availing these mines only for monopoly and export, the members said.
Besides, the Government has not done any studies on the river conditions and their future for which a survey is essential.
In this scenario, the bidding process of the virgin mines should be cancelled for the time being until a study is completed on the river and stream conditions , deforestation and its impact on human and wildlife in the context of climate change risks, said CSO members Prafulla Samantara and Rabi Das.