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It is third in a row, with the villagers of Tadijhola in Kalahandi district, rejecting the proposal for bauxite mining in Niyamgiri hills today.
Earlier, the Dongria Kondhs of Kesaripadi and Serakapadi in Rayagada district had voted against the project in the gram sabhas held in their respective villages.
Tadijhola, located on the foothills of Niyamgiri, is predominantly inhabited by people of milkmen community.
Out of 22 eligible voters in the village, 19 persons- 12 women and 7 males- attended today’s gram sabha braving heavy rains and voiced their opposition to the project.
“Niyam Raja is the presiding deity of the area. No one can separate us from Niyamgiri. Any attempt to conduct mining in the hill will hurt us and rob our livelihood”, said Gajendra Gouda, one of the participants in the meeting.
His views were echoed by other adults of the village at the meeting, which lasted for over three hours. The meeting, held amidst tight security, was presided over by the ward member of the village Rama Majhi. Hundreds of people from nearby villages and NGO activists witnessed the proceedings.
The meeting was convened by the local gram panchayat and the additional district judge (vigilance) PK Jena supervised the proceedings. ‘The palli sabha has passed off peacefully”, said nodal officer, R.C. Behera.
It was the third palli sabha in the series 12 palli sabhas to be held by August 19 in Rayagada and Kalahandi districts to decide the fate of the bauxite mining in Niyamagiri which is crucial to the running of Vedanta’s one million tonne alumina refinery at Lanjigarh.
On April 18, the Supreme Court had said the local villagers would decide whether the proposed mining project would cause harm to their religious right of worshipping Niyam Raja at Hundaljali, about 10-km from the identified mining site.
The anti-mining activists and officials of the Niyamgiri Surakhya Samiti (NSS) were upbeat with the outcome of the palli sabhas, where for the first time non-tribal people strongly opposed the mining project in the hill.
“We expect the tribal people will also ventilate similar opinion in the subsequent palli sabhas to be held in Rayagada and Kalahandi districts”, said Sidharatha Nayak, chairman Green Kalahandi, an organisation opposed to the mining project.
