Public hearing on Vedanta project amidst villagers' protests

Large scale protest marred the public hearing convened to get consent for coal mine of Vedanta-controlled Bharat Aluminium Company (Balco) Limited in Dharamjaygarh block of Raigarh district today.

Balco, in which Government of India has 49 per cent stake, has been allotted coal block spread in 1070 hectares of land in Taraimar village, about 350 km from here. The block is estimated to have a coal reserve of 70.12 million tones, which the company will need to feed its 1200-Mw power plant coming up in Korba.

"A large number of villagers including women came out to protest against the coal mines citing environmental hazards as main reason for opposition," environment activist Ramesh Sharma said. The villagers had said that they did not want the mine to start operation in the area.

The public hearing for environment clearances for the project started today morning amidst heavy security arrangement. More than 400 policemen were deployed to avert any untoward incident at the primary school ground, where the proceedings started on video camera.

"About 1500 villagers had come to attend the hearing and this was one of the biggest public hearings held in the district," Raigarh Collector Ashok Agrawal told Business Standard.

He said a few villagers were detained for creating chaos during the proceedings but they were released later.

The company officials however refused to comment on the development.