Vedanta Aluminium Limited (VAL) has condemned the findings of the UK National Contact Point, a UK-based government agency, which accused London-based Vedanta Resources, the parent company of VAL of overlooking the interests of the local communities in Orissa.
“Vedanta failed to put in place an adequate and timely consultation mechanism to fully engage the Dongria Kondh, an indigenous community who would be directly affected by the environmental, health and safety impact of its plans to construct a bauxite mine in the Niyamgiri Hills in Orissa”, said a statement issued by the UK National Contact Point for the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) guidelines for multinational enterprises.
VAL questioned the locus standi of the UK-based agency to comment on the possible impact of a project being developed in India and considered its interference to be against the nation's sovereignty.
“We condemn the findings of the UK-based agency. Our bauxite mining project at Niyamgiri hills has been cleared by the Supreme Court which is the highest judicial authority in India. It is inappropriate for the agency of any other country to comment on a project which is being developed in India”, Mukesh Kumar, chief operating officer of VAL's Lanjigarh project told Business Standard.
The conclusions on Vedanta's bauxite mining project have been drawn based on the allegations of Survival International, an international NGO (non-governmental organization) which is known for its anti-industry standpoint, said Kumar.
“The report on our bauxite mining project and its potential impact on the local communities was prepared based on a complaint submitted by Survival International which has an office in Bhubaneswar. They wished to involve us in the process of investigation but we denied as our project has to be developed in India and it has to meet the Indian legislation. A foreign agency has nothing to do with our project”, he added. On allegations by Survival International that Vedanta’s proposed bauxite mine project was to be carried out on the Dongria Kondh’s sacred mountain, Kumar said, there is only one sacred mountain on the Niyamgiri hill range and our bauxite mining operations would not touch this sacred spot.