Youth Congress press meet held in absence of activist Prafulla Samantara
Dr.Badal Tah,Odishabarta
Rayagada, August 31: Prafulla Samantara, social activist working on nature conservation, who came to Rayagada to participate as a guest in Youth Congress meet was abducted by plain clothed police and was escorted to his hometown Brahmapur. The primary objective of this meet was to resist unlawful arrest of people resisting green field mining activities in Sijimali & Kutrumali mines in Kashipur block of Rayagada district.
Samantara could not participate in the press meet of the said political outfit as he was picked up by police before the meet from Swagat hotel where he was staying and forcibly taken to his house at Brahmapur. Though Samantara complained about the ill treatment by police, reliable sources from police mentioned that he was apprehended in the context of a law & order situation in the area. He was never arrested and sent with all the respect to his home, according to police.
The press release by Youth Congress projected the arrest of several people protesting mining activities by Vedanta. It also blamed unauthorised entry of Mytri Mining Company in the villages . But an interaction with Mytri representative revealed that it had a MoU/ToR with Vedanta as Developer & Operator. Though the leaders of Rayagada Youth Congress agree that they invited Samantara for further information on police excess and mining company’s repression on villagers, one faction said that they were competent to resist themselves and for that matter did not need anybody’s help including Samantara. According to Mytri, most of the villagers in the villages to be affected do welcome development intervention in the area. To avoid middlemen, they directly go to the villages interact with villagers to know and act upon the felt needs of the poor.
During the press meet, the Youth Congress demanded to quash the false charges framed against the illegally arrested persons from Kashipur villages at the instance of Mytri and unconditional release of anti-mining detainees.
This charge was strongly refuted by Mytri by saying that only a handful of people were registering their protest for the sake of protest. They are paid to protest. On the other hand, few villagers instigated many innocent villagers, who attacked Mytri officials on duty with arms and ammunitions.
Youth Congress leaders had also alleged that no Gram Sabha was conducted. According to official sources from the district administration, the Gram Sabhas will certainly be conducted prior to mining activities.
“For past few days, similar cases of abduction & arrest are witnessed in the district’s hinterland. Now, it is inside the town. The mining company and the district administration, because of their mistakes, may be committing these violations. The district will be at peace if some permanent solutions are explored with adherence of strict legal recourse as soon as possible. To ease the situation, a concerted meet needs to be conducted involving the mining companies, community leaders, district administration, PRI members, political party representatives and civil society members. This can be done prior to the actual public hearing and gram sabha. District Collector and SP may take such an initiative”, said Rasmi Ranjan Dora, an active member of Rayagada Nagarika Manch and Society for Fast Justice.
It is also discussed locally that L&T company, which earlier got the mining lease of Sijimali before Vedanta and now filed a case in Supreme Court of India, might be supporting some anti-mining activists. There are also instances where many self acclaimed activists are getting fellowship assistance from multinational aid agencies like OXFAM, Action Aid, Survival International, etc.
Samantara has filed a case before SP, Rayagada. Till writing of this report, Congress Party of Rayagada is yet to speak out or issue any press release about abduction of Samantara, who was invited to participate in their Youth Congress press meet as a guest.
