Ibnlive.com, 13th August, 2008
Bahar Dutt & Akanksha Banerji,CNN-IBN.
The Dongriya Kondhs a primitive tribal group in Orissa are up in arms. They have alleged they are being harassed in an attempt to evict them from their land and forests to give way to a Rs 4,000 crore project to mine bauxite by UK-based mining company, Vedanta.
The apex court has finally given permissions for the forests to be cleared for mining.
The Niyamgiri forests is home to tigers, leopards and over 100 species of plants. But with mining, over 1.2 lakh trees will be destroyed and 32 streams which originate in the Niyamgiri hills will dry up.
For the Kondhs who live off the forests the losses will be many. For these people, it is a daily trek of four kms to the forest. With the forests of Niyamgiri gone, the trek will increase to 10 kms daily.
The protests against the mining project have now spread from Kalahandi to the streets of London.
Tribal leaders travelled to London to highlight that mining the Niyamgiri forest - which they consider sacred - would be like demolishing the St Paul's Cathedral, a landmark for London city.
Campaigners want Vedanta shareholders to put pressure on the company to withdraw its mining plans in the Niyamgiri mountains.
Back in Orissa, the battlelines are squarely drawn. Vedanta claims it will bring development to a backward region, but with the cutting down of massive forests, the Dongriya Kondhs are asking whose development is this anyway? And who will it really benefit?
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