The virgin beauty of Arakku Valley in the Eastern Ghats is a popular tourist draw, but it may soon be just a memory. The hill ranges from Papikonda in East Godavari to Sileru and Krishnadevipeta in Visakhapatnam district, rich in bauxite ore, have been chosen as the site for a mega aluminium project. Jindal South West Holding has signed a memorandum of understanding with the state government for establishing a Rs 9,000 crore smelter and refinery. The smelter will produce 2.5 lakh tonnes of alumina and the refinery 1.5 million tonnes of aluminium. The bauxite ore for the alumina smelter will be mined by the Andhra Pradesh Mineral Development Corporation. The native Girijans, who will be displaced by the project, were taken to Damonjodi in Orissa by the Integrated Tribal Development Agency so that they could view for themselves the progress made by National Aluminium Company, which set up an alumina plant there. But the visit left the Girijans unhappy and fearful of the threat on their lifestyle and the eco-system of the region. "These hills are like God for us. They give us wealth. We eke out a living by collecting wood, neem, amla and adda leaves. How can we lose all this," said Korra Nookamma, a tribal. "Nalco did not provide jobs as promised to the displaced tribals, nor were they compensated." Nookamma added: "We are ready to fight till death. Let the government tell us what jobs it will provide." The project will cause not only displacement of tribals, but impairment of soil and moisture in the hills, depletion of ground water, the catchment areas of rivers like the Sileru and the Matchkund and their tributaries, the Gosthani and the Sarada, will be affected. Ravi Rebbapragada, executive director of Samata, an NGO fighting for tribal rights, said: "Rare flora and fauna like Indian Gaur, Athera Belwetti, golden gecko and others could become extinct." The Samata intends to sensitise the people on how mining in Damonjodi and other areas of Orissa did not, in fact, open up jobs for the locals. "Only the educated will get a job," said Nookalamma. "In our families, only one person is educated, so the entire burden will be on that person. Right now all family members work. We are happy here. Why do they want to disturb our peace?" Many tribals in the area own one acre of land on which they grow coffee, which fetches them an income of Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh a year. A second crop of pepper means an additional Rs 20,000. The tribals have sustained themselves for centuries through appropriate techniques of cultivation, not taking too much from nature and wasting nothing. Their nurturing of the environment could be all for naught. ?