Over 20,000 tribal men and women from Orissa marched through dense forest to create a 17-km-long human wall across Niyamgiri, the holy mountain that provides their livelihood and is now under threat from British mining company Vedanta.

Marching to save the mountain that is their god

“How could I not come, it is our life,” said 45-year-old Dongaria Kondh.

She walked 70-km from Khambehi village in Rayagarha to take part in the human chain that is part of the ongoing peaceful stand-off between the tribal people and Vedanta.

People, including many children, from over 200 villages converged to create a 17-km human chain along along the Niyamgiri foothills.

The peaceful protesters chanted slogans of solidarity as smaller groups converged into bigger ones, on a sweltering afternoon.

Kumuti Majhi stated: “No company can take our forest that we have been protecting as our home for generations.”

 
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