Public hearing held in Odisha for eco clearance for Vedanta’s proposed bauxite mine

Public hearing for Vedanta's bauxite mine in Odisha's Rayagada district ended with majority of villagers voicing concerns over potential adverse impact on local ecology. Tight security was in place as villagers had alleged police high-handedness and attempts to allure them to support the project.

A crucial public hearing seeking environmental clearance for bauxite mining by Vedanta Limited at Sijimali in Odisha’s Rayagada district on October 16 got over with the majority of villages voicing concerns over the possible adverse impact of mining on local ecology.

The public hearing was conducted at the Trinath Dev High School at Sunger near Kashipur of Rayagada amid tight security. The public hearing had become highly controversial as villagers had alleged police high-handedness and attempts to allure villagers for deposition in favour of the mining.

“The public hearing for environment clearance is complete. We have recorded statements of people and video-graphed the event. The transcript and video clips will be submitted to the Ministry of Environment and Forests for necessary action at their end,” said Swadha Dev Singh, District Collector of Rayagada, on the phone.

The Vedanta group, whose bauxite extraction plan through public sector Odisha Mining Corporation from Niyamgiri Hill Range had come a cropper following rejection by people in 12 gram sabhas in 2013, faced a fresh hurdle this time. The verdicts of 12 gram sabhas were dubbed in 2013 as India’s first environmental referendum.

Vedanta, India’s largest aluminium producer, has proposed to extract 9 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) from the Sijimali bauxite block spread over 1549.022 ha area over Rayagada and Kalahandi district. Sijimali has 311 million tonnes of proven bauxite deposit. It had proposed an investment of ₹792 crore in the project.

The proposed Sijimali bauxite mine is considered a critical asset for Vedanta’s expansion plan in the aluminium sector.  The company has been operating a two-MTPA capacity alumina refinery plant at Lanjigarh in Kalahandi district without a captive bauxite mine since 2007. It has proposed to augment refinery capacity to 6 million tonnes. For all these years, the refinery plant at Lanjigarh has been fed by bauxite, mostly imported. Later, it managed to secure a long-term supply from the Odisha Mining Corporation’s Kodingamali bauxite mine in Koraput district.