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Amnesty calls for halt to Vedanta's India mine plans
NEW DELHI — British resource giant Vedanta should not be allowed to mine in an Indian forest held sacred by tribal people until it gets their "informed consent", Amnesty International said…
NEW DELHI — British resource giant Vedanta should not be allowed to mine in an Indian forest held sacred by tribal people until it gets their "informed consent", Amnesty International said Tuesday.The call marked the latest attack on plans by British-based Vedanta Resources, headed by billionaire Anil Agarwal, to mine vast deposits of bauxite in the thickly forested Niyamgiri Hills in eastern India."No process to seek the (tribal) community's informed consent has been established," said London-based Amnesty.The Indian government should not allow the mining to go ahead until the 8,000-strong Dongria Kondh give their permission, Amnesty said.Last week, the Church of England announced it had sold its six-million-dollar stake in Vedanta because the company had not shown "the level of respect for human rights and local communities that we expect".The open-caste mine planned by India-focused Vedanta is intended to feed a nearby 900 million-dollar alumina refinery already built by the company in mineral-rich Orissa state.Amnesty also said in a report the refinery, which is being fed with bauxite from other Indian states, is already causing air and water pollution that "threatens the health of local people".The group said Vedanta was planning a six-fold expansion of the plant but this should not be allowed until pollution and health issues affecting the tribals were resolved.Opponents of the project say the mine will destroy the area's ecosystem and threatens the future of the Dongria Kondh."The people of Orissa are among the poorest in India... their voices are being ignored by Vedanta," said Amnesty International campaigner Ramesh Gopalakrishnan, who authored the report on the project.The tribe believes the lush Niyamgiri Hills is the home of its god Niyam Raja and depends on the hills for their crops and livelihood.The mining plans are seen as a test case, pitting industrial development interests in India against those of indigenous peoples and the environment.Last October, a British government agency tasked w
last modification 2010-02-09 09:15:12
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