UnoUniverse: Environment: Environment and Forest Ministry Rejects Vedanta Project

Taking a significant step for environment and tribal rights the Ministry of Environment and Forests of Government of India publicly rejected Vedanta project in Niyamgiri, Orissa, while presenting a scathing review of actions by Vedanta and the Orissa government as per the Saxena report.

Jairam Ramesh's recommendations were based on Saxena report. The salient features of the report were scathing of the actions of both Vedanta as well as the Government of Orissa. Excerpts included:

Ecological Impact of Mining

1. Mining operations of the proposed intensity spread of 7 square kilometers would severely disturb the natural wildlife habitat that has been proposed as part of the Niyamgiri Wildlife Sanctuary.

2. More than 1.2 lakh trees would need to be cleared besides many lakhs of shrubs and herbal fauna.

3. Mining in PML will destroy the 'edge effect' of valuable grassland-forest landscape and adversely affect the wildlife in this area

4. The grasses are breeding and fawning ground for Four-Horned Antelope, Barking Deer and the Spotted Deer. A rare lizard, Golden Gecko, is found in the proposed lease area. The populations of all these species will decline if mining is allowed.

5. The value of the Niyamgiri hill forests as an important elephant habitat is well recognized by its inclusion in South Orissa Elephant Reserve. Mining on the scale proposed in this habitat would severely disturb elephant habitats and threaten the important task of elephant conservation in Orissa.

6. The mining operations in the PML site involves stripping off more than 7 square kilometer of the hill top which would drastically alter the water supply of the region, severely affecting ecological systems and human communities dependent on water.

Human Cost of Mining

1. The PML area is intimately linked, by way of economic, religious, and cultural ties, to 28 Kondh villages with a total population of 5148 persons. The affected include 1453 Dongaria Kondh which constitutes 20% of the Kondh population.

2. If the economic, social and cultural life of one-fifth of the Dongaria Kondh community is directly affected, it will affect the well being of the entire community.

3. Since the Dongaria and the Kutia Kondh are heavily dependent on forest produce for their livelihood , this forest cover loss will cause a significant decline in their ecoonmic well-being. Landless Dalits who live in these villages and are dependent on the Kondh will be similarly affected.

4. Lands that Dongaria Kondh cultivate lie in close proximity to the PML area. Mining related activity such as tree felling, blasting, road building, removal of soil, and movement of heavy machinery will deny them access to their lands that they have used for generations.

5. These activities will also adversely affect the surrounding slopes and streams that are crucial for their agriculture.

Violations of the Forest Rights Act

1. It is established beyond doubt that the area proposed for mining lease (PML) and the surrounding thick forests are the cultural religious and economic habitat of the Kondh Primitive Tribal Groups. Discouraging and denying the claims of the Primitive Tribal Groups without the due process of law is illegal on the part of district or subdivisional committees. Since the provisions of the FR act have not been followed by the state government, and the legitimate and well established rights of the Kondh Primitive Tribe Groups have been deliberately disregarded by the district admiinistration and state government, the only course of action open before MOEF is to withdraw the stage 1 clearance under FCA for the said area.

2. From the evidence collected by the Committee, we conclude that the Orissa Government is not likely to implement the FR Act in a fair and impartial manner as far as the PML area is concerned. Since it has gone to the extent of forwarding false certificates and may do so again in future, the MoEF should be well advised not to accept the contentions of the Orissa Government without independent verification. GoI should therefore engage a credible professional authority to assist people in filing the claims under the community clause for the PML area with the state administration

3. In sum, the MoEF cannot grant diversion of forest land for non-forest purposes unless:

- the process of recognition of rights under the Forest Rights Act is satisfactory and complete

- the consent of the concerned community is granted

- both points have been certified by the Gram Sabha of the area concerned (which must be that of the hamlet being a Scheduled Area)

4. All of these conditions, not just any one, must be satisfied. This is irrespective of the fact whether people have filed claims or not.

In addition, the report also points out that the company is in illegal occupation of forest land, and have wilfully lied about access to this land by tribal communities. Further,it proceeded on expansion of its project without EIA filings.

The Saxena committee has strongly recommended against the project.

Source: http://www.thesouthasian.org/archives/2010/environment_and_forest_ministr.html