Bayyaram mines: 'Rules flouted over mines'

By SNV Sudhir

Visakhapatnam, April 22, 2013: While the row over allocation of Bayyaram mines to public sector, Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP), has divided leaders of political parties along regional lines, concerns have been raised at the way state government allotted the mines without considering statutory norms.

“Bayyaram mandal and other adjacent areas are part of the tribal tract notified under the Fifth Schedule to the Constitution and, therefore, any economic activity in this area, including mining activity, attracts the restrictions under that Schedule. I am afraid that the state's decision on Bayyaram, without taking prior approval of the local tribal Gram Sabhas, is unconstitutional and violative of the law of the land. It is detrimental to the interests of the local tribal community,” said former union energy secretary, EAS Sarma.

He said that such a decision should follow the state's recent announcement of legislative status being accorded for the Scheduled Tribes Sub-Plan and with this allotment the state government’s  intention towards the welfare of the tribals has come under a cloud.

“The unilateral decision taken by the state government on Bayyaram is in violation of Clause 4 of the Fifth Schedule to the Constitution which requires prior consultation in such matters with the Tribal Advisory Council (TAC). No such consultation has taken place. By deciding on Bayyaram without consulting TAC, the state has marginalised the TAC in contempt of the Constitutional status of that council,” pointed Sarma

Both the statutes, the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 (PESA) and the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 (FRA) make it obligatory for the state to obtain prior approval from the local Gram Sabhas on two issues: one- whether mining of the local iron ore deposits be taken up at all, and if so, whether the tribals should have a predominant involvement in such mining. “By not allowing such a statutory process being gone through, the state has clearly violated both PESA and FRA and has held the interests and the rights of the tribals in utter contempt,” he added.

In this context he reminded that the supreme court in a recent order on Vedanta's bauxite mining project in Niyamgiri Hills in the Scheduled Area, in Odisha directed that prior approval from the local tribal Gram Sabhas is mandatory before any mining activity could be permitted there, as the proposed mining activity would impinge on the lives of the tribals and violate the provisions of the Fifth Schedule as well as PESA and FRA.