KANTAMAL (RAYAGADA): It’s a clear, sunny day, but there is not a soul in sight in Kantamal, which is enveloped by an eerie silence. This is the place where villagers and police fought a pitched battle on April 7. Remnants of that conflict exist, in the quiet of the land with villagers lurking behind the shut doors on the foothills of Sijimali.
The air of apprehension and mistrust towards strangers is palpable. It takes a bit of effort to get the villagers out of their homes. But once assured, they are forthcoming. They step out, cautiously, gathering at a cemented platform at the centre of the village. Only then do the stories begin to emerge.
Less than two weeks ago, on the night of April 6-7, the village turned into the site of a violent confrontation with the district police. The scars of that night remain, in bandaged heads, canisters of tear gas shells and the raging silence of the hills.
At the heart of the conflict lies a 2.98 km stretch of road, planned to connect state highway-44 to the 311 million tonne Sijimali bauxite reserve, allocated to Vedanta Limited in February 2023.
Snaking up the hills, the dirt road cuts through the forested terrain on to the top of Sijimali, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with a chain of reserves, part of the East Coast bauxite belt that runs across Odisha right into Andhra Pradesh.
Sijimali is split between Kalahandi and Rayagada districts. For the state administration, the road to the reserve is critical to evacuate bauxite when mining operations begin. For the villagers of Kantamal and neighbouring Sagabari, it represents displacement, ecological damage and the erosion of their way of life.
Everything that unfolded that night traces back to this road. Tension escalated on April 6 when construction activity started. Tribals, who have been opposing the project for months, gathered in large numbers to block the work. Men and women stood their ground, refusing to allow machinery or personnel to proceed. Collector Ashutosh Kulkarni tried to engage with the agitators, but it yielded no result.
Villagers say the police were forced to retreat in the face of resistance. This, they allege, attracted early-dawn retaliation. Around 2 am on April 7, a large police force descended on Kantamal, says Rupa Singh, a resident. He claimed electricity to the village was snapped before the operation began. Under the cover of darkness, police personnel allegedly entered homes, locked the doors from outside, and began assaulting the residents. Tear gas shells were fired.
Ani Dei Majhi says she was asleep when it started. A white bandage wrapped around her head, she says, “There was darkness everywhere and I couldn’t see anything as police charged in.” She says she was struck on the head. Fellow villagers later provided her treatment since she could not go outside the village for fear of arrest.
Police, however, have a different version altogether. Rayagada SP Swathy S rubbishes any claim of a pre-dawn raid. According to her, a police team had entered Kantamal to execute a non-bailable warrant against Subash Singh Majhi, who, she said, is wanted in 14 criminal cases.
“The locals were prepared. The police party was attacked with stones, lathis, and other weapons. They were gheraoed and outnumbered. It was a life-threatening situation, and they had to defend themselves,” Swathy says. In the attack, the SP adds that 58 police personnel were injured, some of them seriously. They were initially treated at the Kashipur community health centre, with six later shifted to Visakhapatnam for advanced care.
Behind the chasm is a widening trust deficit between tribal and Dalit communities inhabiting the bauxite-rich hills and the state administration. It began with the Niyamgiri hills, where the Dongria Kondhs won a historic referendum to protect their religious rights under the Forest Rights Act (FRA) against bauxite mining in 2013. Exactly 10 years later, the global conglomerate Vedanta, in search of a bauxite reserve to feed its refinery and aluminium expansion plans, landed the Sijimali auction in 2023. And, the resistance resurfaced.
For the agitating villagers, the latest confrontations were not isolated incidents; rather, a culmination of years of growing tension, rooted in their opposition to mining in the Sijimali hill. This time, the arrest of 21 people in Kalahandi district’s Tala Ampadar village on March 10 kicked off a string of events. Activists say even a pregnant woman and underage girls were picked up by the police and are still behind bars.
Villagers who swear by their land and natural resources point to statutory clearances which they allege have been obtained through fabrication of records. Under the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act (PESA), gram sabha approval for projects is mandatory. Villagers allege the gram sabha resolutions from December 8, 2023, in at least eight villages were fabricated. “How can the same officials be present at different villages at the same time on the same day? But that’s how records were created,” says Kumeswar Nayak, another Kantamal villager.
According to activist Sharanya Nayak, the gram sabhas conducted by the state government were fake. “Entries of dead persons and those not present in the village have been made in the proceedings of the meetings. There are thumb impressions of villagers who know how to sign,” she says, adding all this was later exposed. The villages subsequently held gram sabhas to reject the projects, which have not been accepted by the administration.
Another resident of Kantamal, Rupa Singh, said villagers have vowed never to allow mining in Sijimali. “We are prepared to continue the fight notwithstanding the pressure from the administration and police,” he says.
As the resistance continues, villagers claim pressure from the administration has grown. “They (the police) detain us without any reason. People have stopped going to hospitals, even outside the village. Our livelihoods are in danger. Women are not able to go to attend meetings of the SHGs,” he adds. Villagers depend on the primary health centre at Sunger, which is 5 km away from the village, or the CHC at Kashipur, which is 25 kilometre away.
For the administration, the road is necessary for mining operations. A December 2024 detailed project report prepared by Mythri Infrastructure and Mining Ltd, the mine developer, provided traffic analysis and projection on the access road. To achieve 9 million tonne of bauxite transportation a year, the report suggested movement of about 1,410 trucks per day would be required. It is, however, planned in a phased manner. The first year may need movement of 470 trucks a day, which will rise to 940 in the subsequent year and reach 1,410 in the third year. It also reveals that the global aluminium giant will go in for a pipe conveyor from the mines to the plant in the future.
For the villagers, it is an existential threat. “This road is not for us,” says Rupa Singh. “It is for the mines. And the mines will destroy everything we depend on.”
Environmental activists supporting the movement argue that the conflict in Kantamal is not merely about a road or a single project but about the erosion of constitutional safeguards meant to protect tribal communities. Activist Prafulla Samantara says large-scale mining will prove to be an ecological disaster. “Development is planned at what cost? Has there even been a study on the impact of the mining in this region?” he questions.
Back on the ground, the resistance has taken a physical form. Subas Singh Majhi, president of the Ma Mati Mali Suraksha Manch, wanted by the police, rejects the police narrative. Majhi says he is not a criminal and all the 14 cases against him are because of the resistance movement.
The 2.98 km road is now under constant watch. Villagers from Kantamal and Sagabari have established three blockade points along the stretch—one near the base, another midway, and a third closer to the hilltop. At each point, groups of residents keep vigil through the day and night. At any given time, no less than 1,000 are on the hill. “If any construction team comes, the entire village will gather,” says a resident of Sagabari. “There will be no work on this road.”
Ani Dei, nursing her injury, has returned to the protest meetings in the village. “We will not allow this road,” she repeats. “It will take away everything.” Meanwhile, political parties have thrown their weight behind the tribal agitators. Leader of the Congress Legislature Party Rama Chandra Kadam said fresh, monitored gram sabhas should be held to get people’s opinion, and full FRA compliance must be ensured.
Kadam said that all cases against the agitating tribals should be withdrawn. He demanded that pregnant women kept in Kalampadar jail of Kalahandi district should be immediately released. Stating that protest against injustice is not a crime, Kadam said there should be no industry in the area without people’s consent.
Former MP and BJD leader Pradeep Majhi also visited Kantamal village. He said a team will soon visit 57 villages in Rayagada and Kalahandi districts set to be affected by bauxite mining in Sijimali, Kutrumali, and Malli hills.
Amidst the heightened tension, the Rayagada SP said the district administration is talking to the villagers to find a solution. “We are now preoccupied with treatment of police personnel injured in the incident, but villagers are free to approach police and administration about their problems. The administration is keen to take grievances of the people into consideration,” she said.
Swathy, however, said the administration will take necessary legal action against those involved in the April 7 violence.