AN INTERNATIONAL charity has called on a Cheshire council to use its investor power to halt mining which it claims will destroy the spiritual home of an Indian people.
Cheshire West and Chester Council administers a £1.94bn pension fund on behalf of numerous public organisation in the county.
The fund has investments in the British mining company Vedanta, which is planning to mine bauxite on the Niyamgiri Mountain, in the eastern Indian state of Orissa.
But, according to the international development charity ActionAid, the 8,000-strong Kondh people are totally dependent on the mountain for their crops, water and livelihoods.
The mine is scheduled to open in September.
Meredith Alexander, ActionAid’s head of Trade and Corporates, said shareholders, including Cheshire West and Chester Council, “are investing in a mine that will destroy a community’s way of life, at the same time as irreversibly damaging a unique environment.”
She said: “The council must ask Vedanta to withdraw from the project.
“The destruction of the Kondh’s homeland is imminent. Shareholders have a final chance to refuse to allow their money to be used in this way.”
The mountain is the ancestral homeland of the Kondh and an important eco-system, home to endangered species such as tigers, elephants and leopards, threatened with extinction by Vedanta’s plans for the mine. The Kondh regard Niyamgiri Mountain and its surrounding forest as sacred and home to their god, Niyam Raja.
A spokesman for Cheshire West and Chester Council confirmed the authority administers the Cheshire Pension Fund on behalf of nearly 90 organisations.
He said: “The fund has around £1.94bn invested in various assets such as shares, bonds and property to meet the pension benefits of its members.
“The fund has delegated its investment decisions, including which shares to buy and sell, to external investment managers.
“One of these external managers has invested a relatively small holding of around £1.4m in Vedanta shares.
“The fund and managers take seriously their responsibilities and where possible managers use their influence to encourage best practice standards in companies' management of social, environmental and governance issues.
“Investment managers see company policies and practices in these areas as an integral part of the investment process and through constructive engagement the manager is able to contribute to the development of a company’s principles and standards of corporate responsibility.”
