Vedanta Aluminium Ltd (VAL) has condemned the findings of UK National Contact Point, a British government agency which accused London-based Vedanta Resources, the parent company of VAL, of overlooking the interests of local communities in its Orissa projects.
“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”, had said the UK National Contact Point on the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) guidelines for multinational enterprises.
VAL questioned the legal right of 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, the highest judicial authority in India. It is inappropriate for the agency of any other country to comment on a project 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 based on the allegations of Survival International, an international NGO (non-governmental organization) 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 it, 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”.
