Bauxite mining : Pressure mounts on govt to form gram sabhas

By SNV Sudhir

Visakhapatnam, Aug 22, 2013 :  Pressure is mounting on the state government to form gram sabhas as per the provisions of the Panchayats Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act of 1996 in Vizag Agency in the wake of 12 grama sabhas in Niyamgiri hills in the neihbouring Odisha passing resolutions opposing proposed bauxite mining by Vedanta.

A similar proposal to mine bauxite was mooted in four Agency mandals in Vizag district by the state owned APMDC which had come under bitter criticism and stiff opposition by the local tribals citing environmental and livelihood concerns.  They are of the opinion that with the grama sabhas, they will be empowered to stop mining.

The grama sabha in a tribal village assumed significance with an Apex court’s order in April on the proposed bauxite mining in Niyamgiri hills in Odisha. The Supreme Court in its order on the case filed by Odisha Mineral Development Corporation (OMDC) directed the Odisha government to place the issue of proposal before gram sabha and it would take a decision within three months. Union Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) should take a final decision on the grant of stage II clearance for the bauxite mining project in the light of the decisions of the gram sabha within two months thereafter.

And recently as per the Supreme Court’s order grama sabas were convened in Kalahandi and Rayagada districts. All these grama sabhas resolved opposing mining.

“State government should immediately form grama sabhas as per the provisions of the PESA Act and also take opinion from them in Vizag Agency on the proposed bauxite mining. Grama sabhas resolution in Niyamagiri hills had definitely gave a fresh lease and confidence to the ribals here who have been opposing mining tooth and nail since more than a decade,” said CPI district secretary, JV Satyanrayana Murthy, whose party is actively campaigning against mining in Vizag Agency.  

Ironically, it’s more than two years that the state government issued a GO enacting the provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) (PESA) Act, 1996 of the union government empowering the Gram Sabhas in Scheduled Areas.

The PESA was enacted to empower grama sabhas to safeguard and preserve the traditions and customs of the people, their cultural identity, community resources and customary modes of dispute resolution and ownership of Minor Forest Produce (MFP).

The G O MS No 66 of panchayat raj and rural development department issued on March 24, 2011 also talks about declaration of tribal villages under PESA Act in various Agency tracts and also formation of grama sabhas in those villages.

However not even a single village in the Agency tracts coming under Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, East Godavari, West Godavari, Khammam, Warangal, Adilabad and Mahabubnagar districts were declared as scheduled area or PESA villages.

No grama sabha was formed.  Every village declared under PESA shall have a Gram

Sabha comprising of adult members, whose names are included in the electoral rolls at the village level. The Sarpanch of the Gram Panchayat shall be the President of the Gram Sabha. The Gram Sabha shall elect a Vice President and Secretary.

With the supreme court’s order on grama sabhas the state owned APMDC is also clearly in a fix over the contentious bauxite mining issue.   The state owned APMDC which had, until now, been given licenses by the state government with the rider that it would have to get clearances from MoEF to mine bauxite in Vizag Agency, had on many occasions argued that since bauxite comes under major minerals category, there was no need to take local grama sabha’s consent to go ahead with the mining as per PSEA Act.   

The state government  in a letter to the union tribal welfare ministry on Feb 7  responding to union minister V Kishore Chandra Deo’s directives to the state government to cancel the licenses, had also laid emphasis on the same argument of no necessity to take consent from grama sabha to mine bauxite, which is a major mineral.

After wide spread opposition from local tribals on the proposed bauxite mining , without going ahead with according stage II clearances, MoEF appointed a four member expert committee headed by Former Director General of Forests and Secretary to Union government, JC Kala to study the issue.  The JC Kala committee too recommended that grama sabha consent should be taken before going ahead with the mining.