Arrest at Hati on way to Taraimar

I am under arrest: the state administration is of the opinion that my going to attend the Public Hearing at Taraimar (Dharamjaigarh) would disrupt local peace. What will NOT, in its opinion, disrupt local peace is the forceful uprooting of 40000 persons, mostly tribals and Bangladeshi-refugees, from their lands and homes to make way for Vedanta company to mine 800 million tons of coal for two new power plants it intends to set up in adjacent Korba. Already, the agents of Vedanta have begun forcing tribals into selling their lands for as little as Rs 15000/acre; those that have resisted so far will be left with no option after tomorrow's public hearing. Precious forests and wildlife will be lost forever...There are only two lines in Vedanta's 80-page proposal about what it intends to do with the 9000 families it will displace: "they will be rehabilitated in a condition better than their present lot." There is, however, not one word about where, when and how this rehabilitation is to be done. Its environmental assessment report is based on what can at best be described as figments of some very fertile imagination...This is precisely what I- and several others like me- had intended to ask at tomorrow's public hearing. Sadly, these questions will remain unanswered. The Peace that Dr. Raman Singh- no doubt, acting as an agent for Mr. Anil Agrawal (the London-based proprietor of Vedanta)- so fiercely wants will come at the cost of erasure of an entire peoples and their way of life...