On May 2, 1983, despite the sweltering heat and the unrelenting pressure of examinations, students of Anchal College, Padampur, pelted stones at the motorcade carrying the Union minister for mines, the chief minister of Orissa and the state's industries minister. The three were on their way to inaugurate a mining project at Gandhamardan. The people of the area were determined to protect the biodiversity of Gandhamardan and their livelihoods. They were not willing to allow even a square inch of the hill to be dug for mining. Thus, they joined hands to form the Gandhamardan Surakhya Yuba Parishad (GSYP) and dug in their heels for a protracted struggle and the issue caught the attention of the nation and even the world. Five years later, in 1988, the state government finally cancelled the memorandum of understanding on the project. Now, 20 years down the line, even as it was gearing up to celebrate the silver jubilee of that struggle, the Parishad is once again readying for a similar fight. This one, it says, will be the final one. GSYP leader Pradeep Purohit and other members of the organisation have sworn that they will not allow mining in Gandhamardan. The Padampur legislator and Opposition chief whip in the Orissa Assembly, Satyabhusan Sahu, has shot off a letter to the chief minister, urging him to refrain from mining in Gandhamardan. Sahu has cautioned that mining would ruin the environment and the natural habitat of endangered flora and fauna, as well as adversely impact the economy of lakhs of tribals. The Gandhamardan hill range in Paikmal block in Bargarh district has an estimated 210 million tonne bauxite deposit with 45.75 per cent of alumina and 2.25 per cent silicon content