Overview
- Clashes on Tuesday at the Sijimali site in Rayagada left roughly 30 to 58 police injured, with several villagers hurt and some personnel shifted to Visakhapatnam for advanced care.
- Police moved in to enable work on a 3 km approach road from Purlang to Sagabari Ghat that would give access to the bauxite block allotted to Vedanta.
- Officers said protesters hurled stones and used axes and other sharp weapons, while activists accused police of a pre‑dawn cordon, lathi charge and excessive use of tear gas.
- Officials enforced prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the BNSS and deployed more forces, and it remains unclear whether the road work will resume soon.
- The mine, estimated at 311 million tonnes of bauxite, faces deferred forest‑land diversion by the Union environment ministry and disputed Gram Sabha consents in cases pending before the Orissa High Court.