Close on the heels of the rejection of green nod to Vedanta’s Rs50,000 crore bauxite mining project in Niyamgiri in Odisha, the Environment Minister Veerappa Moily said on Tuesday that approvals cannot be given to projects that are being opposed by the local panchayats. The Odisha Government will, however, approach the Supreme Court against the decision of Environment Ministry.
“I have rejected the Niyamgiri because all the panchayats have rejected the proposal.....When the panchayats reject, we cannot go ahead with it. We have made a rule that if the panchayats (reject), we cannot (grant clearance),” said Moily on Tuesday. His decision may set a precedence in granting green clearances in future.
The sources in the Environment Ministry informed that the Centre’s order is based on a referendum conducted across 12 villages, as sought by the Supreme Court, to look into the religious aspects of the Niyamgiri hills, considered sacred by the Dongria Kondhs, endangered primitive tribal group living in the area. All the 12 village councils unanimously voted against mining in the Niyamgiri hills. The apex court had ordered for the referendum on April 18.
At a time when Moily is on a spree of granting environmental clearances to large ticket pending projects in the country including POSCO, the decision on Vedanta has come as a surprise.
The sources reminded that even the Rahul Gandhi had opposed the Vedanta’s mining project in Niyamgiri Hills when he had visited lamjigarh in 2010. He had supported the cause of the Kondhs in the area committing to protect their cultural and religious interest.
Vedanta is proposing to set up alumunium refinery in lanjigarh in Kalahandi with a capacity of one million tonne per annum already investing Rs5,000 crore in the project. Bauxite, for the refinery was to mined in Niyamgiri hills.