Today on date 11/10/2023 about eighty men & women from Sijimali & Kutrumali area of Kashipur Block, district Rayagada came to Bhubaneswar, the state capital of Odisha to submit their memorandum to the Honb’le Governor of Odisha, the Honb’le Chief Minister of Odisha, The Chief Secretary of the Odisha & the State Human Rights Commission with an appeal to cancel the Public Hearing for starting Bauxite mining in Sijimali & Kutrumali scheduled on dt 16/10/2022 immediately the Proposed Mining Bauxite project in their areas. They claimed that all the people from their locality are being tortured, harassed & kept under house arrest by the local Rayagada police for last two months. They say that all M/S Mythri Infra & Mining India Pvt Ltd & M/ S VEDANTA RESOURCES LTD. have been misusing the Rayagada police & district administration to forcefully acquire the Sijimali & Kutrumali Bauxite Reserve in blatant violation of PESA ACT 1996, FOREST RIGHTS ACT 2006, LAND ACQUISITION ACT 2013 & other related laws of India. They alleged that Shri Vivekananda Sharma, IPS,SP , Rayagada has been implicating the innocent Tribals & Dalits with several serious charges including the Arms Act 1959, Attempt to murder IPC 307, Rioting. They claim that the Rayagada police authorities & district administration has been committing atrocities on the innocent people of the proposed mines areas to help the Mining Contractor in the upcoming Public Hearing scheduled on dt 16.10.2023. They said that the Rayagada police & the BSF personals have completely surrounded their villages & not allowing anyone to go out of their villages. No media or outside persons are allowed by police & BSF in the areas. They stated that they managed to come out of their villages by climbing the mountain through forest route to catch bus & train to come to Bhubaneswar to escape the police brutality. They alleged that local police authorities, district administration & local media have been bought over by the M/ S Mythri Infra & Mining India Pvt Ltd. with huge money. They narrated that no govt officials or media persons are able to speak the truth due to the fear of false FIRs case & police brutality. They said that nobody is there to listen to their on-going suffering.
They fervently appealed to the Honb’le Governor of Odisha, Honb’le CM of Odisha, Honb’le Human Rights Commission of Odisha, Honb’le GDP, esteemed media & the fellow citizens to save them from the continuous police atrocities on the people of Sijimali & Kutrumali areas of Kashipur Block in the Rayagada district since last two months. They mentioned that M/S VEDANTA RESOURCES LTD has got that Mining lease of Sijimali & Kutrumali Bauxite Reserve. M/ S VEDANTA has reportedly sublet the mining work to M/S Mythri Infra & Mining India Pvt. M/ S Mythri Infra is owned by the friends & business partners of Shri N. Bhaskar Rao , Ex Member of Parliament, who belong to the ruling BJD party. The M/ S Mythri Infra has the unholy nexus with all the powerful politicians of Rayagada. Mythri Infra has been using the Rayagada police & the district administration to suppress the voice of the people of mining affected areas of Rayagada & Koraput since last 15 years. Mythri Infra has been committing atrocities on the people of Sijimali & Kutrumali with the help Rayagada police to hijack the upcoming Public Hearing scheduled on dt 16/10/2023.
So far 23 innocent people have been arrested & put in jail for opposing the proposed mining project in Sijimali & Kutrumali. False FIRs have been lodged against about 1000 innocent people to forcefully acquire the Bauxite Reserve in Sijimali & Kutrumali. All these innocent persons have been falsely charged with more than eight extremely serious charges like attempt to murder, ARMS ACT 1959, Rioting etc. About 170 persons have been implicated with 15 serious charges including the Arms Act 1959, Attempt to murder & Rioting. All the male members of different villages in our area have fled their home & hiding in forests, nearby district & other states to escape police brutality. All the villages have been dominated by police & paramilitary personnel (BSF) since last two months. The political leaders of BJD, INC & BJP have been shamelessly supporting the M/ S Mythri Infra. M/ S Mythri Infra & Mining India Ltd has been committing all these atrocities to somehow manipulate the Public Hearing scheduled on dt 16/10/2023 with the help of police & local hired goons. There is a atmosphere of extreme fear & anxiety in the minds of the people. They claimed that Sijimali & Kutrumali are their Goddess as per their local tradition & religion. So they worship these mountains as per their local tradition & religious rituals. They stated that their lives, livelihood & religion will be completely destroyed if the mining project starts there. Therefore, they appeal to the Honb’le Governor of Odisha, the Honb’le CM & the Honb’le Member Secretary SPCB to cancel the Public Hearing meant for mining project in Sijimali & Kutrumali scheduled on dt 16/10/23. The delegation consisted of Smt. Sunamati Majhi, Smt. Karumudei Majhi, Smt. Ulangdei Majhi, Shri Mansingh Majhi, Shri Hinda Majhi, Shri Santosh Majhi, Shri Ghenu Naik, Shri Jayadev Naik, Shri Sumanta Majhi, Shri Basudev Jhodia among others.
