After Vedanta was refused permission by the ruling Congress Party Government to set up a bauxite mine in the Niyamgiri Hills it has begun scouting for alternative locations. Rahul Gandhi having placed the last nail in the coffin for the plan on 26 August with his statement.
The denial for the mining permission was based on the Saxena committee report which said that the mine would be a violation of the forest conservation act of 1980, the environmental protection act of 1966 and the forest rights act of 2006.
The CEO of the Vedanta Alumina, Mukesh Kumar told reporters that the company has appealed to the state government in Orissa to allocate another bauxite mine close to the plant. Kumar is hoping that the new site would be in a radius of 30-40 km of the refinery located at Lanjigarh.
The sites that they are showing interest in are located in the Gandhamardhan Hills in the Bolangir district, the Sashu Bohu Mali hills in the Koraput district, Mali in Rayagada and Rajendramali in Kalahandi district. Of these the Gandhamardan hills may not be acceptable to the Congress as theyre are many shrines in the region and popular sentiment is dead set against mining activity in the area.