Of 22 eligible voters in the village, 19 persons -- 12 women and 7 men -- attended the gram sabha, despite heavy rains to voice their opposition to the project. Tadijhola, located on the foothills of Niyamgiri, is predominantly inhabited by the milkmen community.
Even as this village on the slopes of the rugged Niyamgiris gets ready to host the maiden gram sabha on Thursday to decide the fate of a bauxite mining project on the hills, life for the local Dongaria Kondh tribals, who consider the hills sacred, continues as usual.
Verdict to decide fate of Vedanta Aluminium's Rs 40,000-cr projects in Odisha that will source bauxite from Niyamgiri.
The office of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has written to the Union environment and forests ministry urging it to clear Vedanta's proposed Niyamgiri mine in Orissa. The mine cannot go ahead without official clearance from the environment ministry.
Moily had last week rejected Vedanta's proposal to mine the Niyamgiri hills after 12 village councils of Dongriya Kondh tribal groups opposed the project in their forests.
Ministry readies draft to dilute tribal rights to help India Inc
Sourcing bauxite from other states to add Rs 600 crore to cost.
'It is my duty to give the govt the right price of crude oil.'
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