A senior official in the state of Orissa, also known as Odisha, said the proposal to mine bauxite had been rejected by all the 12 village councils – known as gram sabhas.
"The last meeting was held today (Monday). People of all the 12 villages have now unanimously rejected the proposal," Lal Bihari Himrika, the state minister for tribal welfare, told AFP.
The Supreme Court ruled in April that the villagers should vote on the plan to extract bauxite from the hills of Niyamgiri.
"If the project affects their religious rights, especially their right to worship their deity, known as Niyam Raja... that right has to be preserved and protected," the court stated.
The court was ruling on a request by Vedanta′s partner, the Orissa Mining Corp, to lift a 2010 ban by the environment ministry on mining the bauxite.
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