KOLKATA (miningweekly.com) - For the first time in Indian mining history, councils of villagers and tribals, known as Gram Sabhas, were readying to decide the fate of a mining project, the mega bauxite-mining project on Niyamgiri hills, in the East Indian province of Odisha.

In line with a verdict of the Supreme Court, the respective councils of the villagers and tribals of Niyamgiri would hold meetings over the next few months to decide whether to permit mining, as the provincial government of Odisha started the elaborate monitoring process of the conclaves, as laid down in the court verdict.

The estimated 150-million-ton bauxite reserves would be exploited by Vedanta Aluminium, an associate of resource major, Vedanta Group, to produce three-million tons a year of raw materials for the company’s onr-million-ton-a-year refinery, shuttered since December owing to a shortage of bauxite.

The government of Odisha had already started issuing instructions to local administrations to arrange meetings of the village councils and has moved the High Court to seek nominations of district judges who would be part of the councils as observers. Notices would also be posted in all the villages where the councils would meet to decide on the fate of the mining project.

However, according to the local district administration, the proposed referendum of villagers and tribals of Niyamgiri had already run into trouble, with nearly 104 villages demanding similar council meetings, while the provincial government planned on only 12 meetings in villages considered to be the most likely affected regions.

On Wednesday, an estimated 30 000 tribals protested against the Vedanta mining project, vowing to protect their environment, religious shrines and way of life, and demanding the right to be heard across all villages in the region.

“We are fighting against power of the State and power of big companies. The Supreme Court order empowers villagers and tribes and the least we can demand is that all villages in the region be heard,” said S Sabor, a tribal activist protesting under the banner of Niyamgiri Suraksha Samiti (Niyamgiri Safeguard Committee).

“We demand that fate of the mining project be left to the people of the land. The Supreme Court verdict reflects the primacy of rights of tribals over ownership of land, water and resources on which they live,” Sabor said.

The Supreme Court order on the Vedanta mining project said that the village councils would determine the proposal against the backdrop of community, individual, cultural and religious claims of tribals and forest dwellers.

Gram Sabhas can also examine whether the proposed mining area would in any way affect the abode of the religious deity (Niyam Raja) and if the bauxite mining project in any way affects their religious rights, especially their right to worship their deity; that right has to be preserved and protected, the court order of April 18 said, directing that the local referendum should be completed within three months of the date of the order.