Summary
Mr. Saroj Mohanty, poet and long-time
activist with Prakrutik Sampad Surakhya Parishad (PSSP),
has been arrested with other activists on 14 July 2007
from the railway station in Rayagada District, Kashipur
region, Orissa and is currently in judicial custody at
the Rayagada district jail. He has been opposing the
entry of large bauxite mining companies in Kashipur in
the past 15 years.
Mr. Mohanty has been charged under section 395 of the
Indian Penal Code-IPC (Dacoity), section 397 (Robbery or
Dacoity, with attempt to cause death or grievous hurt),
and section 450 (House tresspass with intention to commit
offence that is punishable with imprisonment for life).
It is alleged that the charges against Mr. Mohanty stem
from his opposition to the attempts by the mining
company, Utkal Alumina Industries Limited (UAIL) and the
Orissa government in late 2004, to push the bauxite
mining project through and undermine the resistance to
the project by imposing false cases on the leadership and
mass base of PSSP. The intense protests by the people
were met by severe repression, harassment and arrests,
which continue to this day, with a number of PSSP
activists and ordinary people being falsely charged.
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Sample
Letter
We call
your urgent attention to the arrest of Mr. Saroj
Mohanty, a poet and a long-time activist with
Prakrutik Sampad Surakhya Parishad (PSSP), along
with other members, in Kashipur, Orissa on 14
July 2007.
Subsequent to his arrest, Mr. Mohanty has been
charged with serious offences under section 395
of the IPC (Dacoity), section 397 (Robbery or
dacoity, with attempt to cause death or grievous
hurt), and section 450 (House tresspass with
intention to commit offence that is punishable
with imprisonment for life).
We contend that these charges are fabricated and
are attempts by the district administration,
under the pressure from Utkal Alumina Industries
Limited (UAIL) to repress and undermine the
peaceful resistance of the people of Kashipur to
the proposed setting up of bauxite mines and
alumina smelter in the area since 2004.
In the past 15 years, the PSSP has peacefully
demanded the protection of the lives and
livelihood of the local people, mostly adivasis
and dalits, who are at risk of losing their land
and livelihood to the UAIL project.
Mr. Mohanty is a well known social activist, who
has been working with people’s movements
since his college days, and is currently the
editor of a respected journal ‘Anvesha’
that is a forum for rich debate on questions
pertaining to development, industrialization and
other important socio-economic issues of our
time.
The arrest of Mr Mohanty impinges on the
democratic space of the citizens of your country
to protest and voice their opinion in free and
peaceful manner. Therefore we request:
Mr. Saroj Mohanty and
other Prakrutik Sampad Surakhya Parishad
(PSSP) activists and local people be
immediately and unconditionally released.
All harassment and
repressive tactics by the state
administration to undermine the peaceful
resistance of the people of Kashipur be
immediately stopped.
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Background
People’s Struggles
Orissa possesses 69.7% of the total bauxite deposits of
India, mostly concentrated in K-B-K districts (Koraput,
Bolangir and Kalahandi). Bauxite is used to make
aluminum.
The Orissa government has signed nearly 40 Memorandums of
Understanding with various industrial houses and groups
to set up their plants in Orissa out of which 13 plants
are planned in Kalinga Nagar of Jajpur district. The
Kalinga Nagar firing that killed 21 tribals in January
2006 is not the first example of public discontent
towards biased industrialisation during the tenure of the
present government. The government was equally oppressive
against the tribal communities who gathered in protest
against Utkal Alumina Project, where three tribals were
killed in Maikanch in December 2000 and in the lathi
charge (beating with baton) on 1 December 2004 by the
Orissa police on the adivasis of the Kashipur who were
peacefully protesting the forcible takeover of their
lands by Utkal Alumina.
Local Reality in Kashipur
Kashipur is a poverty-stricken area where starvation
deaths and mass malnutrition are integral to its history
with adivasis often surviving on mango kernel gruel.
Ironically there are no health centres, ration shops,
food-for-work programmes, social safety schemes, or
schools. Instead, one will find an entrenched network of
paramilitary forces and the police to terrorise and bully
the the local people.
Tribal communities living in the region are presently
self-sufficient. From the experiences of resettled
oustees from the neighbouring National Aluminum Company
(NALCO) project, the scale of displacement is huge and
only a few benefited from job offers. Most of the
affected people are unable to buy cultivable land and are
forced to spend their lives in small shacks in
ill-planned resettlement colonies. They are not prepared
for life ruled by state and market forces and are highly
vulnerable to exploitation and violence.
State Government’s Violations in Kashipur
The state government in return for taxes and royalty,
gave 2,700 hectares of land to a multinational bauxite
mining venture by UAIL, a consortium of Norsk Hydro of
Norway, ALCAN of Canada and HINDALCO of India. The former
two investors have since withdrawn. The venture is 100%
export oriented. The government’s handover of the
most precious lands in Orissa was done without any form
of consent from the people owning it. This is against the
constitution of India and the "Samatha Court
judgement in 1997” (1). The Supreme Court in its
1997 judgment (Samatha) has banned transfer of land and
mining lease and license to the non-tribal in 5th
schedule areas.
The law, such as Andhra Pradesh Forest Act, 1967, the
Forest Conservation Act 1980, the Mining Act 1957, the
Environment Protection Act 1986, clearly asks that such
projects should take into account local opinion by
procuring the acquiescence of the Gram Sabhas (or local
councils). This basic issue was repeatedly ignored in
this context. More than 2,100 families in 2 dozen
villages stand to lose their land, including 370
families. The negative impacts of this project go well
beyond just the human toll.
A report on UAIL by Indian People’s Tribunal, an
independent body for over a decade monitoring rights
violations, headed by retired Justice S N Bhargava,
recommended the government to abandon the project
immediately asking for inquiries into rights violations
by security forces and Orissa State Pollution Control
Board’s capacity to assess and prevent environmental
violation. It found evidence of state repression,
violation of constitutional provisions and environmental
norms.
Economic, Social and Environmental Impact of UAIL
The production of UAIL was originally scheduled to
begin by 2002, but was rescheduled for 2005 due to
people’s agitation. The UAIL Project will source
bauxite through open cast mining from Baphlimali of
Maikanch Panchayat.
While the Baphlimali Hills area is to be allocated to
mining, assessments by various groups reveal that the
requirements of 2,610 hectares of land, including 1,000
hectares of cultivable land for the factory/wastage dump
alone, will cripple the livelihoods of most settlements
in the area.
In fact, many villages stand to lose 75% of cultivable
land and will not even be considered displaced, rendering
the people virtually landless. Adivasis have been warned
that few jobs will be open to them, mainly as
construction laborers or menials. One member of the
“fully displaced” family category may receive
one permanent job.
Bauxite mining is one of the most
environmentally-destructive processes known. The slag
(waste/effluent that is thrown out in the mining process)
to ore ratio is 3:1, which means that for every tonne of
alumina produced, there will be three tonnes of highly
caustic slag. This will be dumped as red mud in
downstream areas, destroying agricultural land, surface
and sub-soil water, and causing unnamed diseases and
ailments. UAIL does not even appear to have obtained
environmental clearance for the project.
(1) The judgment has declared as void
and impermissible all transfer of land belonging to the
State of Andhra Pradesh at any time in the past or
present in “Scheduled areas” to non-tribals,
and all mining leases or prospecting licenses when
granted by the concerned state government in such areas
to non-tribals. The judgment was explicitly in favor of
the tribal and declared that the government is a
non-tribal person and all land leased to the private
company in schedule area are null and void.
To learn more about the long struggle against bauxite
mining in Orissa, India, please read UA040316(5).
Source:
Times
of India, Mumbai
Down to Earth Nov 2006.
Business and Human Rights Resource Centre
Alcan't in India
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