A bauxite/aluminium project very similar to the Vedanta project in Odisha is coming up in Visakhapatnam istrict of Andhra Pradesh. AnRak Aluminium, a company of the government of Ras al-Khaimah of the United Arab Emirates and Penna Cement of AP has secured approval for both an aluminium complex and the bauxite ines, but the fi nal forest clearance for the mines is awaited. The AnRak project has replicated the Vedanta odel of fi rst building the refi nery and then setting up the mine. The mine is to be operated by the state government to circumvent the ban on non-tribal landownership. In fact, the state government has disregarded the huge environmental and social impact and popular protests against mining bauxite in the Jerrela Hills, inhabited almost exclusively by adivasi tribes who will be displaced, to safeguard private gain.
