On November 12 2010, the Indian newspaper Orissa Diary published a report claiming that eight tribal and other NGOs had submitted a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition to the state’s High Court on behalf of Vedanta Resources plc. According to the report, the groups were seeking to overturn the central environment ministry (MoEF)’s recent decision to block the company’s expansion of its Lanjigarh alumina refinery.
Certainly thousands of people in the region – not least many workers at the refinery – are angered at the MoEF’s decision – no doubt believing their livelihoods to have been jeopardised by political “agitators”, many of whom don’t even live in the state. However, the objectivity of those purporting to have signed the petition has been strongly denied by a local organisation whose authenticity is undeniable.
See
http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=10531.