Orissa tribals come to UK to protest mining in their sacred hills (India)

[struggle4progress]

London, Aug 3 (IANS) A delegation of Orissa tribals has come all the way to London to confront the owner of a company planning to mine bauxite from a hill considered sacred by them.

Members of the Dongriyha Kondh tribe barged their way into the annual general meeting of Vedanta Resources to describe how the company was destroying the environment even before the mining has begun.

The pressure resulted in Vedanta's founder and chairman Anil Agarwal making a commitment, for the first time, to comply with international law. "I can only promise that we will only start work if we have complete permission of the court and the people," he told shareholders, according to The Independent.

The issue has caused a furore in both India and the UK and the matter is in the courts. A top UK charity has tried to highlight the plight of the tribals by adopting a tit-for-tat approach. It has sent an appeal for the destruction of the St Paul's cathedral in London in case the company goes ahead with the destruction of the hills ...

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