VISAKHAPATNAM | Dec 02, 2015: At least seven PESA (Panchayat Extension in Scheduled Areas) committees have passed resolutions not to allow mining of bauxite in the Agency areas, it is learnt.
The members of all tribes in the area where the government proposes to take up bauxite mining in Chintapalli, Jerrila Reserve Forests are opposed to bauxite mining. “They are highly aware of the issues involved and also about the problems of displacement,” former sarpanch of Jerrila Gram Panchayat S.V. Ramana told The Hindu in Chintapalli. There are a large number of PVTGs who faced displacement due to mining and other projects in Odisha and they have been sharing their experience and apprehensions, he explained.
After the GO 97 was issued by the State government the PESA Committees have passed resolutions against bauxite mining, the former sarpanch said. The opposition to mining is beyond political parties. The political parties have been visiting and expressing their support, he added.
It is not as though any single tribe is backing it. All the five tribes – Bhagata, Valmiki, Konda Dora, Kammara and Kondu (PVTG) – in the Jerrila area are against bauxite mining. The APMDC had sent teams of tribal employees to try and explain the advantage of bauxite mining, but they have not succeeded. After the Maoists burnt down their homes they have stopped coming.
“Everyone is afraid that once mining is allowed it would be the end of the way of life as we know it,” Mr Ramana said.
“The forest sustains us and we are never short of food,” he added. Most families produce millets and some rice, and now many of them are into coffee cultivation.
(Source: http://www.thehindu.com/)