Supreme Court asks Vedanta to stop mining bauxite in Orissa hills

Mumbai: The Supreme Court has asked Vedanta Resources Plc to stop mining bauxite in sacred Niyamgiri hills in the forest areas of Orissa where tribal people and voluntary groups are opposing it. "Adherence to sustainable development is a constitutional requirement," a three-judge bench said in its order. While the country needed to focus on its current development needs, it had to be done "without compromising the needs of future generations", the court said. We cannot take "the risk" of handing over an important national asset to a company, the court said and asked Vedanta''s Indian arm, Sterlite Industries, to come back with a new proposal for the project. Vedanta wants to dig open-cast mines in the Niyamgiri Hills to feed an alumina refinery nearby as part of an $800 million project expected initially to produce one million tonnes of alumina per year. The Supreme Court had, last month, set new conditions for Vedanta and Sterlite for allowing them to mine in the region. The court has now asked Sterlite to set up a new firm to handle the investment in the project and come back to the court for its approval. The court had also asked Vedanta and Sterlite to pay 5 per cent of its annual profits from mining throughout India to the state government to be ploughed into developing the region. It was also asked to deposit Rs50 crore ($12.65 million) with the state government, and specify the number of local people who would be employed in the project. Local people said the mine will destroy the sacred hills, force thousands of tribal people out of their homes and destroy their livelihoods - mainly farming millet, hunting and collecting fruits and spices from the forests. The open-cast mine would also wreck the rich biodiversity of the remote hills and disrupt key water sources of springs and streams in the area that feed two rivers that irrigate large areas of farmland, environmentalists pointed out. Voluntary groups that supported the campaign are, however, not convinced that the creation of a special purpose vehicle for mining will solve the problem. "There have been too many such arrangements that have failed in the past," said a volunteer worker. The state and central governments back the company''s plans. They say the mining would only affect a marginal amount of forest land.