Bhubaneswar: With the Adani Group purchasing land near the ‘sacred’ Gandhamardhan hills in Odisha, the opposition Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and Congress Thursday demanded clarification on whether the company has any plan to go for mining in that region.
The Adani Group, however, said the purpose for land acquisition is to enrich the local ecology through afforestation and there is no commercial intent.
Gandhamardan Hill Range spanning Bargarh and Balangir districts was declared as a Biodiversity Heritage Site (BHS) in 2023 when the BJD was in power. BHS is an area with unique, ecologically fragile ecosystems with rich biodiversity.
“The government should speak out on the purpose of the Adani Group acquiring land near Gandhamardhan Hills, which reserves an estimated 207 million tons of bauxite. Since the state government is silent on the matter, suspicion of the people grows,” said Bolangir’s BJD MLA Kalikesh Singh Deo.
He claimed that the people of two districts protested against the plans of Bharat Aluminium Company Ltd (BALCO) to go for bauxite mining in Gandhamardhan Hills in the 1980s.
“People are getting prepared to launch another round of agitation if required. The state government would be responsible if there is any unpleasant situation,” he claimed.
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Veteran Congress leader Narasingha Mishra said the party would launch a massive agitation if there is any plan for mining in Gandhamardhan Hills, the treasure house of hundreds of medicinal plants.
“The hill is sacred for the locals who believe that Lord Hanuman had taken a medicinal plant from Gandhamardhan Hills for treatment of Lord Ram’s younger brother Laxman in the Ramayana,” Mishra said.
Senior BJP leader and Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan, however, said there was no proposal for mining in Gandhamardhan Hills.
“As the BJD has no issue against the state government, it has been trying to rake up a non-issue,” Pradhan said.
Deputy Chief Minister KV Singh Deo, also a relative of BJD legislator, claimed that the Bolangir MLA is trying to create an issue out of nothing just to stay in the limelight.
Odisha’s Principal Chief Conservator of Forest Debidatta Biswal said that he has no information about the land purchase by Adani Group.
“There is no transfer of any forest land to any group,” Biswal said.
Meanwhile, Adani Group in a statement said: “Mahanadi Mines and Minerals has acquired private land in Bolangir and Bargarh districts from willing landowners to transfer it to the forest department of the Odisha government for afforestation purposes. The purpose of land acquisition is clearly mentioned in the sale deed with the landowners.”
Mahanadi Mines and Minerals is a subsidiary of the Adani Group.
“This land acquisition is not intended for any commercial purposes and will enrich the local ecology on account of compensatory afforestation. The land acquisition process is in line with the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change’s comprehensive guidelines that allow the project proponent to procure land anywhere in permissible geographies in or outside the state,” it said.
The company also said that the district forest officer of the Bolangir Division issued a Suitability Certificate in October for this purpose after due diligence by the authorities.
The Ministry of Coal vested the Bijahan Coal Mine in Sundergarh district with Mahanadi Mines and Minerals Pvt Ltd through competitive bidding in October 2022 for commercial mining.
As per provisions of the Forest Conservation Act 1980, the company is required to provide an equal extent of non-forest government land for Compensatory afforestation for the diversion of forest land for non-forest purposes.
Bargarh’s BJP MP Pradeep Purohit, who came to the limelight as a leader through the anti-Balco movement in the 1980s, said that not an inch of land from Gandhamardhan will be given for mining purposes.
“The opposition parties are interested in playing politics out of this. No mining activities will ever take place in Gandhamardan hills,” Purohit said.
PTI