New Delhi: For residents of Niyamgiri hills, the recent death of contractual worker Pattnaik Harijan is tragic in ways more than one.
Pattnaik, a resident of Kalahandi’s Rengapalli village, was one of the 29 people arrested after the March protest against corporate giant Vedanta, which has set up a refinery in the hills. He died because of sustained illness in judicial custody.
Activists say that despite his illness, police did not bother to inform his family and he was given treatment at a hospital only when it was too late for recovery. His wife, who had no idea that her husband was suffering in judicial custody, reportedly lost consciousness upon hearing of her husband’s untimely death and is currently undergoing treatment, activists say.
Pattnaik’s arrest and subsequent death has now sparked widespread tension in the area.
The villagers, who are mostly Dalits and Adivasis and who have led a long battle against mining on the Niyamgiri, are now of the opinion that the Odisha government is prejudiced against their interests. Vedanta, meanwhile, continues to do business from land that these villagers were forced by the government to forego in the interests of the company.
State apathy
Pattnaik’s death not only reflects the state’s alleged apathy towards the residents of the area but also indicates how a corporate giant can bend the system to suit its interests.
Also read: In Niyamgiri, Corporate Greed and State Power Continue to Coerce Locals
The dharna on March 18, 2019, by residents of Rengapalli, Chatrapur and Bandhaguda – all villages adjoining the refinery – had turned violent when the company’s security personnel and the Odisha Industrial Security Force (OISF) resorted to brutal lathicharge.
Forty-year-old Dani Batra, a contract worker in the refinery plant, and an OISF guard, Sujit Minz, were killed in the resulting scuffle.
The villagers had a few basic demands, like jobs for unemployed villagers, permanent jobs for those who were on contract, and admission of their children at a nearby school. These demands were long-standing and had remained unfulfilled since Vedanta had acquired land from villagers more than 10 years ago.
Vedanta had promised education for children, permanent jobs in the plant and a hospital for the community.
However, only a few who had managed to get jobs in the plant have been hired on contract. Since all their demands have remained unfulfilled for all these years, residents of the area have increasingly become insecure about their future, losing trust on both the state machinery and Vedanta.
In 2013, all the gram sabhas of the region unanimously rejected the proposal for Vedanta’s $1.7 billion bauxite mining project in Niyamgiri hills, as was warranted by the Supreme Court’s order on April, 2013.
Thus, the company still does not have an approval for mining. However, its refinery is functional and the company plans to increase its capacity. Despite all the resistance against it, Vedanta has refused to go. Its refinery continues to transport bauxite even as it maintains its access to the entire 73 million tonne bauxite mountain.
Such is the company’s pull that the Odisha Mining Corporation has now asked the Supreme Court to annul the 2013 gram sabha verdict.
In the fight between a multi-national giant and villagers, surveillance and CRPF camps in the region have become a marked feature in Niyamgiri. Meanwhile, activists say, many villagers have been picked up by the police which has falsely accused them of being Maoists or having Maoist connections.
Also read: Adivasi Lives Don’t Matter
Writing for The Wire in May, 2019, freelance journalist and activist Ranjana Padhi, had said, “The ushering in of companies for growth, even when human development indices continue to be poor, is a striking feature in the mountains and forests of eastern India. Large-scale forcible land acquisition has continued unabated.”
Vedanta’s reply
Meanwhile, the chief communications officer of Vedanta Aluminium and Power Business, Sonal Choithani, told The Wire that the company is no way responsible for Pattnaik’s death.
“The death of Pattnaik Harijan was not due to injuries sustained during the March 18 incident. He was taken into custody only in May 2019 by local police for his part in the March 18 incident. He passed away while being treated for a chronic kidney disease at Burla Government Hospital for which he was being treated for a long time,” she said.
“When he was taken into police custody a few months back, he was a labourer with one of our business associates. The said business associate, facilitated by the local administration, has extended financial aid and support to the family of the deceased on humanitarian grounds. Our thoughts are with the bereaved family. This incident and the deceased are in no way connected to the hills or the tribals living there,” she added.
A larger malaise?
Since the death of Batra and Minz, the way police investigations have progressed reflect wider injustices. Padhi told The Wire that while 29 residents of nearby villages were arrested in Minz’s murder case, no one has been even detained in Batra’s case.
Pattnaik, who worked on contract at a company which handled processes outsourced by Vedanta, has been in prison since May 2. He was brought to the Burla Medical College, Sambalpur, from Bhawanipatna Jail – almost 200 kilometres away – with high fever that had remained uncured for days. Activists say that neither his family was informed nor did other inmates know about his critical condition.
At the medical college, he was declared dead.
Pattnaik is survived by his wife and five daughters. He was the sole earning member of his family.
Tension has gripped the region. “Till date, no proper investigation has taken place to bring to light the manner in which Dani Batra succumbed to injuries inflicted on him by the brutal lathicharge unleashed by the Odisha Industrial Security Forces. Yet many random arrests have taken place in the case of the security guard Sujit Minz whose dead body was found completely burnt with his feet tied with a wire in the premises of the refinery plant,” a press release by a group of activists said.
“In an FIR registered by the Lanjigarh police, 22 persons were named along with 300 “others” in events that led to the death of the security guard Sujit Minz. Many villagers remained in hiding in the jungles for fear of arrest. Then, 29 people were arrested (18 of them, including Pattnaik, were remanded to judicial custody)…They have been booked under serious offences such as sections 147, 148, 149, 323, 325, 436, 302 and 506 of the Indian Penal Code and the Arms Act too. However, there has been no follow up on the death of Dani Batra and the deadly lathicharge by the OISF[footnote]Odisha Industrial Security Forces[/footnote] that killed him and injured 50 villagers,” the statement said.
Also read: We Must Seriously Question Legal Impunities Enjoyed by the Likes of Vedanta
Activists said that “there is a complete lack of concern by the district administration for the well being and safety of people of Lanjigarh area” and the tragic death of Pattnaik reflects that.
They also said that Vedanta was trying to cover up its illegal action by offering compensation to Batra’s wife and legal help to those fearing arrests. They said that the free hand given to the company to manipulate the cases in its favour only speaks about the state government’s apathy towards the people of the region and wilful withdrawal of its “constitutional responsibility”. They added that the company has been trying to “terrorise and intimidate” the villagers in the aftermath of the March protest.
Meanwhile, New Indian Express has reported that villagers launched an agitation at the refinery soon after Pattnaik’s death. The police have imposed Section 144 in the area at present.
Social activists, who have been following the case, demanded a judicial enquiry into Pattnaik’s death and a compensation of Rs 50 lakh for his family. They also asked for immediate withdrawal of CRPF personnel from the region.
This story was updated to include Vedanta’s response.