Medha Patkar Again Barred From Entering Odisha’s Bauxite Mining Hill, Advantage Vedanta

For the Odisha government, the top priority is to ensure uninterrupted supply of bauxite, the feedstock for Vedanta’s aluminium refinery plant. It does not want a situation that aluminium giant led by Anil Agarwal closes shop in Odisha for want of raw material. This explains why environmentalist activist Medha Patkar and her team were barred for the second time from entering the six gram panchayat at Odisha’s Rayagada district Sijimalli hills, about 350 km from Bhubaneswar, a few days ago. Also, the organisers of Niyamgiri Suraksha Samiti and Maa Mati Mali Suraksha Manch have also been barred from entering the area during this period. The rumour is, Odisha’s tribal chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi couldn’t care less about tribal agitation. Sources say, it’s a done deal having BJD legacy earlier which had issued a 50-year bauxite mining lease in favour of Vedanta at Sijimalli hills covering an area of 1,549 hectares, BJP is now doing carry forward job. This explains why the Majhi government is now getting ready to hand over Vedanta the Sijimalli hills which have approximately 311 million tonnes of bauxite. The handover would displace about 100 families covering 18 villages spread over two districts Rayagada and Kalahandi. For now, Majhi government’s focus is clear– it wants smooth sailing of mandatory environment and forest clearances through public hearings and not encourage any kind of protest or lobbying which will derail Vedanta’s bauxite mining project in Odisha.