Overview
- District collector Parul Patawari issued a two-month ban starting June 4 that bars Medha Patkar and 23 other activists from entering or remaining in Rayagada under Section 163(3) citing law-and-order concerns.
- Police detained Patkar at the Rayagada railway station and escorted her to Berhampur before she proceeds to scheduled World Environment Day events in Bhubaneswar.
- Security forces have deployed around 240 personnel in Kashipur as tribal communities protest Vedanta’s plan to extract 9 million tonnes of bauxite annually from the Sijimali hills.
- The Sijimali deposit holds an estimated 311 million tonnes of bauxite and activists warn the mining could displace about 100 families across 18 villages in Rayagada and Kalahandi districts.
- Maa Mati Mali Surakshya Manch, the local activist forum, has organized public meetings to call for sustainable development and protection of forest biodiversity near proposed mining sites.