Mining giant Vedanta Resources is yet to get the final forest clearance for its bauxite mining project in Orissa?s remote Niyamgiri hills, but the road to the mines is ready. Infrastructure for a conveyor belt which will carry the mined bauxite from the hills to its refinery plant on the foothills has already been built ? we counted 47 pillars. On March 13, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh had said that Vedanta was found to have violated norms both on the tribal and forest regulation fronts for its Orissa projects, a statement dismissed as preposterous and biased by the Orissa mines minister.

But once we reach Lanjigarh ? a 10-hour journey across 480-odd km of roads, most of which are narrow and in bad condition – we see the construction that has taken place. Lanjigarh and the Niyamgiri hill range are home to the Dongria Kandhs, a near-extinct tribe with just over 8,000 members. Unlike tribals fighting the Posco project on Orissa?s Paradip coastline, the Dongria Kandhs are not organised, and many aren?t even aware of their rights. Environmentalists and activists have taken up the issue on their behalf, and from November 2009, Vedanta has been under pressure to halt construction.

Any construction on village forest is a violation of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980. When the Union environment ministry pointed this out to the state government, it dispatched the collectors of Kalahandi and Rayagada last November ? the Niyamgiri hill range falls under these two districts ? who reported that there was no violation of the Act. Kalahandi collector R Santhangopal said: ?Everything happened before my time; now there is no construction.?

Why is bauxite from Niyamgiri hills so important to Vedanta? The company needs the ore for its one million tonne alumina project in Lanjigarh, which is already on a trial run. At the moment, the company sources bauxite from Chattisgarh and other states.

The road and pillars have come up over a stretch of 74 meters, which the government says, is no man’s land. But the chief operating officer of Vedanta Aluminium (VAL), Mukesh Kumar, told Fe that the company has purchased the 74 metres from a private party. He also said the conveyor belt and the mine access road have come up on the company?s own land and that there is no violation of MoEF guidelines.

As for the violation of the Forest Rights Act 2006, Mukesh Kumar said the district collectors have made it clear that there were no forest-dwellers in the 660.749-hectare forest area of the 721-hectare mining lease area. He rubbished observations made by Usha Ramanathan, head of the three-member committee appointed by the Union ministry of Environment and Forests, saying ?the settlement of rights under the FRA is incomplete even beyond the Dongria Kandh villages.? The committee is firm in its view that forest-dwellers should be settled on a priority basis, before granting stage 2 forest clearance to Vedanta.

Vedanta?s sister company Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd (SIL) had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC) in 1996 to mine bauxite at Niyamgiri. But due to other commitments, it lost interest and revived the project in 2000 after Naveen Patnaik became chief minister. Vedanta wanted to be a party to the MoU instead of Sterlite and even moved the Supreme Court, which ruled against it two years ago.

Subsequently, Sterlite applied for a mining licence with OMC and got stage one clearance. Sterlite has a 79% stake in the JV, but OMC, the sleeping partner, has the mining lease. The Stage 2 clearance was expected eight months ago, but the Union Ministry, after hearing complaints from many quarters, intervened.

Currently, bauxite mining from the Niyamgiri hills has been put on hold because of lack of forest clearance from the Centre, and massive protests from environmentalists and activists. The Dongria Kandh villagers we spoke to were unanimous that they will be ruined if mining is allowed on the Niyamgiri hilltop where they believe their deity lives.

Why Dongria Kandhs, a near-extinct tribe, resist development

In the darkness of the night, Niyamgiri hills are ablaze as jungle fires rage all the way to the hilltop.

The forest fire is man-lit and a preparatory measure to take up Podu cultivation (shifting cultivation) on the hill slopes. For centuries, Podu cultivation has been the main source of livelihood for the Dongria Kandhs.

But these days, the tribals are living on the edge, hounded by the fear of losing their thousand-year-old homes. They say bauxite mining in Niyamgiri hills will destroy their forests and deprive them of their livelihood. The Niyamgiri hills are believed to hold an estimated 79-million tonnes of bauxite reserves.

?Once the forest is destroyed, we won?t be able to take up Podu cultivation. Moreover, we would not get the Mahua flower, mango and many other forest products which used to be the source of our sustenance,? says Kadraka Singhari, a Dongria Kandh of Phakir village in the Niyamgiri hills.

This apprehension of the Dongria Kandhs has been triggered by Vedanta Resources’ plan to set up a 1.60-million tonne smelter and a 6-million tonne refinery sourcing bauxite from Niyamgiri hills. ?The mining operation will not affect the Dongria Kandhs living in the foothills of the Niyamgiri hills,? said Vedanta Aluminium chief operating officer Mukesh Kumar. According to him, mining will take place on the hilltop and it will not cause any damage to the forest on the hillslopes.

Of the 721 hectare mining area, the forest area is 660.74 hectares and the mineable area 338 hectares. Interestingly, there are no dwellers in the 721-hectare mining area.

?The mining operations in the hill tops would certainly destroy the forests in the hill slopes,? countered Parvati Kauslya, a woman leader of the Dongrias at the forefront of the anti-Vedanta group. Moreover, she pointed out, the transportation of bauxite from the hilltop to the foothills will cause irreparable damage to the forests.

?The mining activities may not directly displace the tribals, but the destruction of the forest will render them homeless,? says Mauli Barik, a journalist of Kalyansinghpur who has followed the Dongria Kandhs. Barik said if the Dongria Kandhs were taken out of the forest, they wouldn?t be able to survive. Citing an example, Barik said that Dongria Kandhs have abandoned their Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) to live in their traditional houses in jungles.

What is, however, going to make Vedanta?s mining plan difficult is the Dongria Kandhs’ recent assertion that their God (Niyam-The Law maker) resides on the hilltop. On February 21, thousands of Dongrias trekked up to the hilltop, to seek the blessings of the Niyam. The state government, which has sided with Vedanta in its fight against the Centre, is on the backfoot because chief minister Naveen Patnaik can ill-afford to irk tribals, who vote for him.