Four days after a government-appointed expert panel recommended that Vedanta Resources should not be allowed to go ahead with its bauxite mining project in the Niyamgiri hills of Orissa, the Congress announced that its general secretary Rahul Gandhi would be visiting Niyamgiri on August 26.
In a report to Minister of Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh, the expert panel headed by N C Saxena, a retired IAS officer who is a member of the National Advisory Council, claimed environmental laws had been violated and that the Vedanta project threatened two endangered tribal communities in the area.
The Orissa government, upset with the UPA for “blocking development” by alleging violation of environmental laws, hit out on learning of Rahul Gandhi’s visit — Gandhi visited a village on the foothills of Niyamgiri two years ago to express solidarity with the tribals in their “fight” against the Vedanta project, calling himself their “soldier” in Delhi.
BJD leader and state Revenue Minister Suryo Patro said: “Rahul Gandhi’s visit is politically motivated. After the Saxena committee report, it is clear that the Congress is not interested in Orissa’s development.”
The Vedanta project involved mining bauxite from a 7 sq km area in Niyamgiri hills of Kalahandi and Rayagada districts. The bauxite was to be supplied to a nearby company refinery for extraction of alumina.
The Congress today said Gandhi will fly to Kalahandi from Raipur on August 26 and visit Lanjigarh. “Rahulji will address a meeting at Lanjigarh where the tribals are observing Adivasi Adhikar Diwas,” said Nabarangpur Congress MP Pradeep Majhi who is also Orissa Youth Congress president. “He is very interested to meet the tribals and discuss their livelihood.”
During his last visit to Ijurpa, a project-affected village in Niyamgiri, Gandhi had expressed concern over the disparity between rural and urban India. At Ijurpa, Dongria Kondh tribals, opposing the setting up of the alumina refinery, had sought his help. He had promised to take up the matter with Sonia Gandhi.