With several villages in the Keonjhar district, Orissa’s mining heartland, languishing in utter neglect and people denied of basic amenities of human life, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has sought for Action Taken Report (ATR) from the district collector on the alleged miserable living condition of people living the mineral-rich belt.

In sharp contrast to rich reserves of mineral wealth, people living in as many as 781 villages on the periphery mines of the district continue to languish in poverty, a petition filed by human rights lawyer Radhakant Tripathy stated.

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Keonjhar, one of the major mineral producing districts of Odisha, is endowed with a rich reserve of iron ore, manganese ore, chromate, quartzite, bauxite and limestone.

The Keonjhar district generates huge revenue for the state. According to District Mineral Foundation (DMF) reports, it is estimated that Keonjhar holds a total of 2,555 million tonnes of iron ore reserves. At the current extraction rate of 55 million tonnes per year, these reserves are projected to last another 60 years. This landlocked district leads in mining-driven industrialisation and contributes significantly to the state’s economy, said the petition.

Mining companies continue to accumulate enormous wealth by dispossessing and marginalizing vulnerable communities.

As per the baseline survey of the district, about 94.1% of households are below poverty line and 58.4% residing in mud houses. Although sufficient funds are provided for the development of the district, these funds are not utilized properly. This indicates administrative inaction and negligence as the primary reasons for the ongoing hardship, emphasizing that the deprivation of roads contributes to widespread poverty, malnutrition, and exclusion of tribal communities, maintained the petition.

There is no scarcity of resources or funds for the social and economic development of the people in the Keonjhar district. If the District Mineral Foundation funds are utilised and distributed properly, it will go a long way in eradicating hunger, poverty and homelessness, while also developing world class health, education, transport and communication infrastructure- transforming the face of 2137 villages and 297 gram panchayats in the district.

Successive governments in Odisha have approached mining areas like Keonjhar and the state’s mineral resources with a rent-seeking, colonial mindset. The ruling classes have focused on extracting wealth without prioritising the welfare of the people. This reflects the politics of poverty, planning, and development in the state, where visionless leadership treats politics as a tool for amassing personal wealth and family business, the petitioner contended.

The petitioner requested the NHRC to study the quality of life of the tribal of Keonjhar District afresh on a war footing and analyse the effect of educational status of tribal communities on quality of life by formulating strategies to improve the quality of life of the tribals of Keonjhar District. Continuous Al-Powered Accessibility Audits will definitely help the development process, it concluded.