Vedanta refinery pollutes river, sickens people in Orissa
VEDANTA recently invited bureaucrats and glitterati to pat its back on corporate social responsibility activities at its first such meeting. But people living around Vedanta Aluminium Ltd's one-million-tonne alumina refinery in Lanjigarh in Orissa knew better. They said the refinery was putting their lives and livelihoods at stake; they threatened to launch an agitation.
In the nearby Niyamgiri hills, the Kondh tribals planned to launch a struggle to save the bauxite-rich hills from mining by the company (see box "Tribals struggle to save Niyamgiri").
"This factory has destroyed us. Neither can we breathe properly because of the dust flying around nor can we bathe in the river Vanshdhara as the water is polluted by caustic discharge from the refinery.We will not put up with this anymore," declared Senapaty Nayak, the former sarpanch of Chatrapura village on the periphery of the factory in Orissa's Kalahandi district.
The Vanshdhara flowed in a narrow stream between the refinery and the village. Apart from harming the crops, the pollution was damaging the health of the people of Chatrapura and other villages in the vicinity. So the villagers have decided to launch a struggle. "We will destroy the water pipes of the plant near our village. We will also not allow any of their vehicles to pass through this area. With our very existence in jeopardy we can go to any extent," the former sarpanch said, while others around him nodded in agreement.
Narayan Harijan, another campaigner against the refinery from Chatrapura, said his father Kandha died last year after taking a bath in Vanshdhara. "He had blisters all over his body. We took him to Rayagada for treatment but doctors could not save his life," recalled Narayan. Dogla Harijan, another villager, is also said to have died last year, after taking a dip. "Dogla started vomiting as soon as he returned home. He died before we could take him to the hospital," said Nayak. In both cases, the villagers did not get the post-mortem report of the bodies. Nonetheless, they were certain the deaths were caused by the caustic material discharged into the river.
