Saturday, December 20, 2008

Santa delivers complaint against mining in Niyamgiri

Kalingatimes, 20th December, 2008

Santa Claus on Friday made a special delivery to the Mayfair home of Anil Agarwal, the billionaire chairman of UK mining giant Vedanta Resources, according to a press release issued by Survival International.
Agarwal received a gift-wrapped copy of a complaint to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), submitted by Survival, slamming his company's plans to mine Niyamgiri hills in Odisha that was home to the Dongria Kondh tribals.
“Vedanta plans to turn the Dongria Kondh's sacred mountain into a vast open cast bauxite mine, which will destroy a swathe of untouched forest and pollute rivers and streams crucial to their survival. The tribe has never been consulted about the mine,” Survival International said.
The 8,000 Dongria Kondh, one of India 's most isolated tribes, vehemently oppose the mine, saying it will end their way of life forever. One Kondh elder said, 'We cannot live without our land. How can a fish live without water?'
Hundreds of other Kondh people have already been displaced to make way for the alumina refinery that Vedanta Aluminium has built to process bauxite ore at Lanjigarh in Kalahandi district.
The OECD provides a set of basic standards for good corporate behaviour to UK-based companies.
“The only Christmas present the Dongria Kondhs want is for Vedanta to abandon its plans. They are in no doubt that the mine will destroy them,” Survival's director Stephen Corry said.

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