The emerging face of Kalahandi: Vedanta's project
Merinews, April 3, 2010
Vedanta's Alumina project is changing the face of Kalahandi, Orissa. Vedanta aims to bring ' change' in the lives of Tribal people of Area , providing Employment, Economy and Development.
VEDANTA'S FIVE million tonne Alumina project is providing employment oppurtunities to over 20,000 common people.The project is " transforming " the Face of Kalahandi, Orissa.
Kalahandi of yester-years:
Acute poverty, lack of infrastructure, lack of drinking water & Electricity ,Prone to diseases like malaria, sickle cell anami and reports of starvation deaths
Lacking sufficient economic base for sustainable prosperity.
Bringing Kalahandi in Mainstream of Development & prosperity:
Vedanta's Alumina project has brought industrialization, large scale employment, high quality infrastructure and amenities like; Roads, bridges, schools, hospitals, drinking water. electricity and sustainable livelihood for community at large.
Vedanta's world class state-of-art Alumina project, is the first project set up after 25 years in India since NALCO, which is mining and operating in the same vicinity. Vedanta's Alumina refinery is amongst the most Environment friendly plants in the world with " zero discharge " moving towards zero waste.
5.000 local people have worked for last 5 years to build this project-with an investment of over Rs 12,500 crore.
India has the world's 4th largest Bauxite resources/reserves of 3 miliion tonnes, out of which Orissa alone has over 2 billion tonnes. Vedanta Alumina project will use only 5% of these resources and Orissa mining corporation, a govt of Orissa undertaking, who holds the mining lease, will supply Bauxite for this project.
Not a single Tribal family Vedanta says , would be displaced due to mining project- According to Vedanta no " dongaria kondh " tribes lives at the proposed site of Lanjigarh.
Hon'ble Apex court of India has approved the project in August 2008--After considering reports of experts fom Wildlife Institute of India, recommendations of Ministry of Environment and Forests, Central mine planning and design institute and Govt. of Orissa.
Unique Formula for Development:
As advised by the Supreme court, the new model for socio-economic development--where 5% of the profit from this project is to be spent on development of Local area, within 50 km radius of this project. The model will contribute hundreds of crores for " development " of local community transforming the lives of thousands of local people.
Benefits for Orissa and Kalahandi:
- Increase in revenue to state--Rs. 400 crore from royalty and taxes.
- Electricity being provided in 13 villages
- 30,000 under-privileged Children being looked after Vedanta Child care centres and 1,000 Vedanta Aanganwadis centres in partnership with Govt. of Orissa
- 20,000 under privileged Children in 273 schools to be provided nutritious lunch through " mid day" meal kitchen scheme.
- Malaria cases considerably reduced--with a vision to eradicate malarial deaths completely in the area.
5 comments:
dear author,
its nice of you for this article.
vedanta is probably just showing off the work they may have done in the region...but at least something is being done in the region...
i was quite eager to read work done by NGOs and Government in the region, which unfortunately is only a mention in your article. therefore i am not sure if you are as neutral as you claim.
i am quite keen to read about the work done by government and NGOs "since decades" in this region, which was also termed as the KBK by late Rajiv Gandhi...
Hi,
Its true what Rajiv Gandhi had said, but you might not have ground picture and projects being implimented in KBK, I visited recently those regions and belong to Kalahandi. Do not extrapolate more about Govt and NGO thinking they have done everythings in Kalahandi and are honest, there are corrupt organizations and officials too, but have a comparative study what others have done till date and what VAL has done till date for the poorest of poor, that was my motive, I had posted few of them in We Report, please browse where you can also find Vedanta's contribution.
http://kalahandia.blogspot.com/2010/03/amjhola-there-is-contineous-water.html
You will eqaully find articles supporting VAL in this blog, but question still remain is what VAL has done till date in the region as per his claim in the media (to get the mining right) except in future tense!
Of course, if implimented what will be future is a question mark. Most of the program initiated by Vedanta has yet to give results whereas some Govt like Indravati Project and NGO (small scale) have already started giving results. My question is why Vedanta is not taking local issues/demands rather than demand of state Govt? Such clarity will come when one will go to the ground and meet local people and investigate the issue.
Dear Digambara,
Thanks for the response...
the indravati irrigation project cannot be compared to the work that done by a corporate. irrigation and water supply are obligatory tasks of the govt, where as small scale initiatives being done/proposed by vedanta are more hinged on the SC diktat as well as its moral and corporate responsibilities.
even after your response, i am still not clear on the work done by ngos...however, authors like yourself and others publications have spared no gigabytes or reams of paper to prominiently display allegations of misdemenour leveled against vedanta...
its time sensible opinion makers like yourself to actually question the roles of these very ngos and their contribution towards development of the region...so far all i have come across are clear attempts to stall progress under the garb of protecting the poor tribals.
i am sure you would agree that given an opportunity these tribals would like to lead a much better lives and would forsake their ramshackled houses for a pucca house.
give it a thought!
Hi,
My point in the blog was NOT based on what Vedanta has contributed and what it can do in future rather it was "whether Vedanta has changed the image of Kalahandi as it has been claiming recently". Govt has a role and thats why its working, there are many NGOs making money, but there are also few who are serious for upliftment of poors, search a bit about Kalahandi Vikas Parisad, Antodaya, Gramin Vikas etc, (personally I prefer not to name anyone specifically for good or bad)
Do you think Vedanta has contributed to change the image of Kalahandi by now? If so, how?
Again one should differentiate here NGOs who are opposing Vedanta for various reasons, indeed once I rasied Survive International about their contribution in Kalahandi's development and received a reply saying they work on tribal right and thats why not involved in development project.
As I had mentioned earlier, please go through our blog archives, Industry or We report you will find both views substantially on Vedanta. Nobody questions what tribal would like to live, but question here is what Vedanta has done so far in the local level as per present claim all over the world? All the local media are reporting few numbers of local employment in VAL, mid-day program (which is also a Govt program in rest of the country) has not started as per claim even after inaguration by Dr Kalam (indeed not even after two months of inaguration the program had stopped, reported by ETV). Probably you think any kind of suggestion/comment against Vedanta (even if for betterment of region) is to stall the project, but furtunately thats not the case, many local intelectuals have been welcoming the project but they suggest/comment to get a better particiaption by Vedanta in the local development which is laging now. Unfortunately Vedanta is directly dealing with the state Govt and administration (through xyz) and forgeting the need of local people and their demand. If you really think Vedanta can change the image of Kalahandi, tell us your expectation, hope or how can Vedanta will help the region, comparative statistics will be appreciable, of course, we will be very happy to post in the blog.
>>>display allegations of misdemenour leveled against vedanta...
Personally I will not take side to your above statement, but advice you to visit the local region to find a clear picture on your own.
Though people support industrilization there, I got the following message after meeting and taking opinions from many local intelectuals and people in Kalahandi: "If not all some of these allegations are not fasle in legal point of view but such thing needs to be sacrificed for development of this backward pocket"
Second observation from local side is: why Vedanta is immediately taking any demand coming from the state Govt or CM whereas similar scale local people's demand in Kalahandi such as hospital & medical college, University or Aluminum smelter with downstream aluminum park are being kept in cold storage by Vedanta.
Road/bridges etc Vedanta has constrcuted in the local region is due to its own requirment for trasnportation.
Local feeling is people has to convience the state Govt to get a deal from Vedanta for the region, why?
Earlier there were also allegations like how refinery compounds were constructed when local tribals were visiting Puri.
(indeed large part of Kalahandi these days assume allegations like Vedanta bribing state Govt. is somewhat true due to Vednata's insentive nature towards local demand and preference towards state Govt.)
This could be the reason why local people are slowly not seeing Vedanta in a positive mind towards development rather than a political struggle for them.
If you are still in doubt, I can personally refer to people you can meet in the ground level, or we can have a visit together in future to get a neutral picture.
P.S. Few support/oppose Vedanta publicly due to political reasons but privately give neutral opinion if you are close to them
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