Odisha keen to revive Niyamgiri mining plan

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government is contemplating to revive its proposed mining project at Niyamgiri Hills and hold Gram Sabha in the area again, state government officials said.”We are taking legal opinion to revive the mining plan at Niyamgiri.Since the Supreme Court had ordered for holding Gram Sabha in Niyamgiri Hills area, we may move the apex court seeking its permission to organise Gram Sabha again,” Odisha’s steel and mines minister Prafulla Kumar Mallick told reporters here on Tuesday.Mallick said the state government was yet to take a decision whether to directly approach the Supreme Court or move the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) to revive its bauxite mining plan.The state government wants that the state owned Odisha Mining Corporation undertake the Bauxite mining at Niyamgiri and supply the ore to the needy aluminium industries, Mallick said.The Niyamgiri Hills have about 75 million tonnes reserves of high grade Bauxite.The mining plan at the eco-sensitive Niyamgiri Hills spread over Kalahandi and Rayagada districts, was scrapped two years ago after all 12 Gram Sabhas voted unanimously against the project.(Courtesy: PTI)