Rayagada ( Odisha): India’s leading metal and mining company, Vedanta met a jolt when the tribal residents at the first Gram Sabha in Odisha’s Rayagada district opposed the bauxite mining at Niyamgiri Hills.
“The villagers are opposed to the bauxite mining at Niyamgiri Hills for Vedanta refinery at Lanjigarh in Kalahandi district. They fear adverse impact of mining on their cultural and religious rights,” Rayagada District Judge Sarat Chandra Mishra, who has been named supervisor for a series of Gram Sabhas in the district, said after the Sabha at Serkapalli village.
“All the 36 members presented at the Gram Sabha opposed the proposal of mining as tribals worship the hill as their presiding deity,” Mishra added.
Of the 46 Gram Sabha members of Serkapalli village, 36 including 16 women attended it as per the April 18 direction of the Supreme Court letting the tribals to decide whether bauxite mining should be allowed at Niyamgiri.
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