Bhubaneswar, July 5: The Odisha government has decided to hold gram sabhas at 12 villages even though the Centre has maintained that the meetings should be held at all the villages in the proposed mining belt of Niyamgiri.

The gram sabhas will take a call on whether mining will be allowed in the Niyamgiri hills. The mining was proposed by the state-run Odisha Mining Corporation and Vedanta group companies to feed its one million tonne alumina refinery situated in the foothills of Niyamgiri.

The sabhas will be held at five villages in Kalahandi district and seven villages in Rayagada district. Scheduled caste and scheduled tribe development minister Lalbihari Himrika said: “The sabhas will be held at five villages in Kalahandi district on July 23, 24, 25, 29 and 30.” The sabhas will be held at seven villages on July 18, 22, 27 and August 1, 7, 13 and 19 in Rayagada district.

The fate of the mining project and, to an extent, the refinery of Vedanta group at Lanjigarh, will depend on the outcome of the sabhas, which are the representative bodies of the local Dongria-Kondh tribals. These bodies will decide whether proposed mining of bauxite in the hills has the potential to violate the Dongria-Kondhs’ religious and cultural rights.

Keeping the interests of the tribals in view, Union tribal affairs minister V. Kishore Chandra Deo had urged governor S.C. Jamir to intervene to ensure that the sabhas be held at all the villages in the proposed mining areas.