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Vedanta rejects Amnesty International claims of human rights abuses [India]
Vedanta today dismissed as "incorrect" an Amnesty International report that accused the firm of human rights abuses and damaging the environment. Chief executive MS Mehta claimed Amnesty had "jumped to the wrong conclusions" and that Vedanta was "very strong on sustainable development"…Critics…claim the company has ridden roughshod over the rights of the Dongria Kondh tribe, evicting people without compensation and building an alumina refinery that has leaked effluent into local rivers…[They] oppose its plans to construct a bauxite mine in Orissa's Niyamgiri hills, considered "sacred" by the Kondh…Vedanta says it has improved health and education in Orissa…[and] it is "a myth" that the Kondh will become extinct if an area of the hills is cleared for a new mine.