New Delhi, November 22: Mining giant Vedanta Resources on Saturday said it expects speedy clearance from the Centre for bauxite mining at the Niyamgiri hills in Orissa after the state government claimed the project would not cause any displacement of tribals.
“I hope the statement of the minister would expedite the process (of grant of the mining lease),” Vedanta Resources CEO M S Mehta told PTI in a telephonic interview.
Orissa Steel and Mines Minister Raghunath Mohanty informed the Assembly last week that “not a single family of Dangaria Kandha tribe lived at the proposed mining area of Lanjigarh, located between Rayagada and Kalahandi districts” and there would be no displacement.
The company is understood to be awaiting final clearance from the Union Environment Ministry.
Vedanta Resources will enter into a joint venture with Orissa Mining Corporation for mining bauxite at the Niyamgiri hills to feed its upcoming alumina refinery at Lanjigarh in the state.
The proposed mining project has reportedly been facing protest from locals as well as international NGOs over allegation of tribal displacement.
Mehta said, “The Minister’s clarification should settle the undesirable and malicious debate which has been taking place at the behest of vested parties.”
The minister had last week said that a special purpose vehicle (SPV) in the name of Lanjigarh Project Area Development Foundation (LPADF) was constituted with contribution of the state government (25 per cent), OMC (26 per cent) and Sterlite Industries Ltd (49 per cent) according to the direction of the apex court.
Sterlite Industries, the flagship company of Vedanta Resources in India, had already paid Rs 20 crore to the SPV – Rs 10 crore in 2007-08 and Rs 10 crore in 2008-09. The welfare projects would be towards health, education, road communication and infrastructure development required for the uplift of ‘Kutia’ Kandha and ‘Dangaria’ Kandha tribes.
—PTI