Lakhapadar, the village of Ladda Sikaka, president of Niyamgiri Surakya Samiti (NSS) ? the tribal organisation that is spearheading the agitation against London-based Vedanta Resources’s alumina plant and Niyamgiri bauxite project ? stood by the leader in the gram sabha that was held on Wednesday. The villagers rejected Vedanta?s proposal to mine bauxites from the Niyamgiri hills.
The Lakhapadar ward under Parsali panchayat of Kalyansinghpur block in Rayagada district, which comprises three villages ? Dongamati, Katangapadar and Lakhapadar ? has 130 voters. However, 97 people turned out for the gram sabha.
The opinion of the villagers in the grama sabha was recorded in the presence of Rayagada district judge Sarat Chandra Mishra.
Lakhapadar was the tenth village where the gram sabha was held to elicit the opinion of the villagers on Vedanta’s bauxite mining project in Niyamgiri. Two more gram sabhas would be organised at Khabesi and Jarpa under the Muniguda block of Rayagada district.
The Supreme Court has directed that gram sabhas be conducted in Niyamgiri areas to decide the fate of the bauxite mining project. Following this, the state government identified 12 villages in Rayagada and Kalahandi districts to hold the sabhas. However, 10 of 12 villages have already decided against the project.