A couple of days after Dongaria Kondhs of Serkapadi village unanimously rejected bauxite mining over Niyamgiri hills, Lanjigarh Vikash Parishad (LVP), an organization supporting the mining project and its beneficiary Vedanta's alumina refinery, has raised doubts over fairness of the village council meeting.
"We want the people to exercise their judgement without fear and prejudice and hence did not campaign in the villages. However, we were shocked to note hundreds of people belonging to NGOs (non-government organization) and Niyamgiri Suraksha Samiti (NSS) surrounding the palli sabha spot. This, prima facie appears to be against the spirit of the Supreme Court judgement as then the hearing neither becomes fair nor free from fear", said Shridhar Pesnia, president of LVP.
Apart from being present in strength to keep a watch on the proceedings, NGOs are also holding mock gram sabhas to tutor the villagers on how to express their opinion in these meetings.
"We have already conducted mock gram sabhas to educate the villagers how to express their opinion in the much debated palli sabha. We hope they will air the same view like the villagers of Serakapada", said Bhala Chandra Sarangi, adviser, NSS.
On July 18, when 36 registered voters of Serkapadi village turned up at the palli sabha, the spot was surrounded by scores of supporters of Amnesty International and NSS, a committee formed to safeguard rights of local tribals. Barricades were erected at the spot and police forces were deployed to ensure security in the area.
Officials of the two joint venture partners of the mining project- state controlled Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) and Vedanta Aluminium Ltd (VAL) were not seen on the day of the palli sabha. Even LVP chose to stay away from the decisive village council meeting whose proceedings were overseen by Rayagada district judge Sarat Chandra Mishra.
