today in Orissa State House, Bardolai Marg,
ChanakyaPuri, New Delhi.
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PRESS RELEASE
New Delhi, 1st February 2005: Protesting against the
state-sponsored violence against indigenous and dalit
peoples in Orissa to facilitate the entry of mining
companies into bauxite rich forest lands, members of
Orissa-based struggle group Prakrutik Sampada
Surakshya Parishad (PSSP), alongwith New Delhi-based
youth and human rights activists, writers and
intellectuals today submitted a memorandum to the
Resident Commissioner of Orissa after a peaceful
demonstration in front of the Orissa Bhavan in New
Delhi this morning. The memorandum demanded the
immediate and unconditional release of 18 PSSP members
who have been illegally arrested since December
2004 and to stop the human rights abuses by the state
police on the villagers around Kashipur who have been
for years peacefully resisted the moves by bauxite
mining consortium Utkal Alumina International Ltd
(UAIL) to take over their land and forests for a 100%
export oriented alumina mining and refinery project.
The Rs 4500 crore UAIL is a joint venture of Indian
company HINDALCO (55% share) and Canadian company
ALCAN (45%). TATA, HYDRO (Norwegian) and ALCOA
(America) who were earlier part of the venture, were
forced to withdraw from the project due to the mass
struggle and opposition by the villagers.
The project will source bauxite from a 195 million ton
deposit in Baphli Mali, a sacred hill for the
adivasis. The promoters also plan to set up an
alumina refinery near Kucheipadar, from where it will
be exported. At the refinery's capacity of consuming 9
million tones of bauxite per year, the
Baphlimali deposit will be exhausted within two
decades.
The mines and refinery are slotted to come up in
adivasi-majority areas that are protected by the Fifth
Schedule of the Constitution. The Fifth Schedule
guarantees the right of land to adivasis, and
prohibits the transfer of these lands to non-tribals
for any purpose. "The Government of Orissa is in the
hands of the mining companies. Since early December,
the Government has unleashed a reign of terror in the
villages near the proposed mining project, and is keen
on evicting the people at gun-point," said Rabi
Shankar of PSSP.
On November 25, 2004 Orissa Chief Minister Naveen
Patnaik was quoted as saying that anti-mining
struggles will be firmly dealt with. From late
November, villages that are protesting the Utkal
Alumina project proposed on their lands have been
under siege by the police.
On December 1st , 2004, the state police launched a
brutal lathi charge on 400 adivasis, mostly women, who
had gathered to protest the inauguration of a road to
a proposed bauxite-mining site in Baphlimali owned by
ALCAN. As a result, 16 people were critically injured
and three women were beaten unconscious. Since this
incident, platoons of armed police with firing
orders have occupied Kucheipadar village - the center
of the adivasi struggle. Eighteen activists of PSSP,
the umbrella organization of adivasis spearheading the
struggle against bauxite mining have been picked up
from their villages mostly in the night in separate
incidents and are now in jail without access to bail.
"This is not the first time that adivasis of Kashipur
are facing such state repression and police
brutality," said Rabi Shankar. On December 16, 2000,
three adivasis were killed in Kashipur when police
fired on unarmed villagers associated with the
people's struggle against bauxite mining.
Following international outrage at the incident, one
of UAIL's original stakeholders, Norsk Hydro of
Norway, withdrew from the project in a move
that clearly implicated both the UAIL and the Orissa
government.
The situation in rest of Orissa is not very different.
As many as five bauxite mining and alumina projects
are in the pipeline, covering 5 blocks of 3 districts
-- Kashipur ( Rayagada district) , Luxmipur and
Dasamantpur( Koraput), Lanjigada and Thuamulrampur
(Kalahandi). Sterlite is proposed to source bauxite
from Sasubohu mali of Kashipur block. Larson and Tubro
from Sijimali and Kutrumali ( Kashipur block), Birla
from Kodinga Mali ( Luxmipur block) and Vedanta from
Niyamgiri and Khandual mali of Kalahandi district.
"The total investment in the Orissa bauxite projects
is to the tune of Rs 20,000 crores. Taking into
consideration the present price of even just
UAIL, the joint venture will reap a profit of at least
Rs 2,88,000 crore during the 22-23 years of the
project life, whereas the government will get
Rs. 1300-1400 crores as royalty during that period.
And the adivasis and dalits of these villages will get
state repression, and a lifetime of misery and slum
life," added Ranjana Padhi of Saheli Women's Resource
Centre, Delhi, a group supporting the Kashipur
peoples' struggle.
For more information, contact: Ranjana Padhi
9811150884; Harish Dhawan
9811667776 Visit: "Alcan't In India"
http://www.saanet.org/alcant 
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