Pottangi: Opposition to the proposed bauxite mining project in the Serubandh Hills of Koraput district intensified as local residents and members of the Serubandh Suraksha Samiti renewed their protest against mining operations planned by the National Aluminium Company Ltd. (NALCO).
Alleging that the project would threaten livelihoods, displace tribal communities and damage the environment, protesters Wednesday organised an awareness rally under the leadership of Serubandh Suraksha Samiti president Rabi Khara.
The procession began at Kunduli Hatapada, passed through Kotia and concluded at Pottangi, with participants raising slogans against the proposed mining project and conducting awareness campaigns in villages across six affected gram panchayats.
The protesters later submitted a memorandum through the Pottangi tehsildar to the Governor, the Union minister for mines, the Odisha mines minister, the chief minister and the Koraput district collector. In the memorandum, the committee alleged that the process of changing the land classification and securing environmental and pollution control clearances for the project was carried out under coercion and in the presence of armed police personnel.
It also claimed that the project lacked the free and informed consent of the affected communities. The protesters warned that mining in the Serubandh Hills would displace tribal and other local families who depend on the area for agriculture and their livelihoods.
They also claimed that the hills are the source of 104 perennial streams that support irrigation, farming and hydropower projects in the region, and alleged that mining would disrupt these water sources.
The memorandum urged the Governor to intervene and requested the state government to direct NALCO to suspend all mining-related activities in the Serubandh Hills, arguing that the project poses a threat to local livelihoods, human rights and the region’s fragile ecology.
Among those who participated in the rally were Pottangi Sarpanch Alme Phul, Nuagaon Sarpanch Subash Khara, Maliput Sarpanch Somnath Gunda, Mali Parbat Suraksha Samiti president Bijay Khil, committee secretary Niranjan Khil, HAL Bisthapita Sangha president Trilochan Muduli, and hundreds of men and women from the affected villages.