Samiti vows to continue fight against mining move

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Source: The Hindu (http://www.hinduonnet.com/2009/10/29/stories/2009102952740300.htm)
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Samiti vows to continue fight against mining move


Correspondent

To submit memorandum to district Collector against Hindalco
KORAPUT: No one would be allowed to take away a pinch of soil from the Maliparvat in Semiliguda block of Koraput district without the consent of the affected persons from the region.
Maliparvat Surakhya Samiti, at a meeting held at Doiambo near the mountain range on Wednesday, reaffirmed its stand to protest any attempt by Hindalco to lift bauxite from the mountain range without meeting the demands of the people.
While the company was trying to play different tricks to take people and the district administration in its side, the struggle that began in 2003 for saving the mountains for the families of at least 22 villages of Daleiguda, Pakhjhola, Khudi and Sorishapadar panchayats near the mountains would not die down, said Arjun Khilo, president of the samiti.

Company’s efforts
The company began its operation recently once again in the mountains by laying roads in the area after a long spell of silence following the agitation by the people against the mining by the company, a few months ago. However, despite all the attempts made by the company to stop the agitation of the people, the samiti would go ahead with its commitment through peaceful methods while keeping its action within the parameters of the rules and regulations of the law of the land, he added.
The mountain range gives life for hundreds of farmers with the water that comes from its good number of perennial streams flowing through out the year, facilitating the production of vegetables and other crops.
People who were once displaced from Sunabeda region in the district for establishing HAL also were living in the affected zone.
The mountain, if allowed to be mined, would leave the people with very little choice to live, Dambarudhar Khilo, another leader of the samiti, said.

Threat to livelihood
The mining process would only destroy the livelihood sources rather than adding any hopes for a better life and hence the company would be allowed to go for mining only if its refinery and other factories were established near the mountain range providing jobs and other facilities for the affected people, he said.
The samiti would submit a memorandum to the district Collector in this regard for restricting the company from moving ahead with its mining activities, Mr. Arjun said. Tribal leaders, men and women in hundreds, including sarpanchs of the panchayats, attended the meeting.


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