Economic Times, Dec 15, 2009
KOLKATA: Anil Agarwal’s Vedanta Aluminium (VAL) is bracing for fresh trouble at its proposed bauxite mining site in Orissa, even as local authorities gave a report to the Naveen Patnaik government stating that the company had not violated any government guidelines.
Significantly, Vedanta’s proposed bauxite mining operation is critically linked to VAL’s Rs 11,000-crore aluminium project in the state. While it has already commissioned its alumina refinery at Lanjingarh, the company has been unable to start work at Niyamgiri, the chosen site of its captive bauxite mining operations. For the moment, VAL has approvals to mine up to 3 million tonne of ore per annum for its project.
Vedanta’s fears stem from the fact that it is yet to even kick off in the Niyamgiri hills, even a year after it received the go-ahead from the Supreme Court in August 2008. In a letter to the police superintendents of Rayagada and Kalahandi last week, Vedanta COO-Lanjigarh Mukesh Kumar, said: “We are seeing increased movement of foreigners from various countries in the area. We also came to know that several confrontations have taken place in various villages between tribals and foreigners, and we apprehend that this may lead to some serious law and order situations.”
The Vedanta official’s letter added: “We request your immediate action in this regard, so that outsiders do not get a chance to instigate local tribals against the government of Orissa or the project.”
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