KORAPUT: Tribals under Serubandha Surakhya Samiti on Thursday took out a rally against Steel and Mines Minister Prafulla Mallick and Pottangi MLA Pritam Padhi for favouring environment clearance for bauxite mining by Nalco.
They submitted a memorandum to the Governor of Odisha Prof Ganeshi Lal through the local tehsildar and burnt effigies of Mallick and Padhi.
The locals had opposed the proposed bauxite mining in Pottangi by Nalco during a public hearing organised by Odisha State Pollution Control Board here on December 17.
The Navratna PSU had applied for environment clearance from Environment Ministry for bauxite mining lease spread over 697.979 hectare (ha) land in Pottangi village of Koraput district.
The bauxite mining lease will have an annual capacity of 3.5 million tonne per annum (MTPA). The Nalco, on the other hand, had claimed that the locals voiced in favour of the PSU carrying out mining.
A few days after the public hearing, the Steel and Mines Minister and local MLA, who did not attend the meeting, stated that people had supported environmental clearance for the mining at the hearing.
“None of the two attended the public hearing. How can they make such a statement when even the ADM Deben Kumar Pradhan had announced that people of six panchayats had opposed mining at the public hearing”, said Serubandha Surakhya Samiti president Bhagban Golori.
They urged the Governor to look into the issue as bauxite mining at Serubandha range would not only impact agriculture in the area by drying up natural streams but also hurt religious sentiments as the entire hill range is home to various tribal deities and of great religious significance to locals.
Meanwhile, Pottangi MLA Padhi admitted of being absent from the public hearing.
“Environment clearance for bauxite mining is the business between Nalco and Centre, there is no role of State Government in it. I will go with the people’s opinion on mining,” he said.