Cancel bauxite mining leases in Vizag: tribal affairs ministers to AP govt

Using his Constitutional powers, tribal affairs minister Kishore Chandra Deo has directed the Andhra Pradesh government to cancel bauxite mining leases to Andhra Pradesh Mining Development Corporation (APMDC) in the state's Aaraku valley to prevent reemergence of naxalism.

Updated on: Oct 8, 2012, 19:49:07 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

Prefer HTon Google

Share via

Copy link

Using his Constitutional powers, tribal affairs minister Kishore Chandra Deo has directed the Andhra Pradesh government to cancel bauxite mining leases to Andhra Pradesh Mining Development Corporation (APMDC) in the state's Aaraku valley to prevent reemergence of naxalism.

The corporation has signed Memorandum of Understanding with several private companies to mine bauxite, which, according to Deo, is violation of Alienation of Land Transfer Regulation Act.

The law prohibits a non-tribal either from purchasing any land or even from getting a lease in the scheduled tribe areas.

"Between 2005 and 2010 the government of Andhra Pradesh has signed MoUs with several companies which are neither owned nor controlled by people belonging to the Scheduled Tribes," Deo said, in his letter to Andhra Pradesh governor ESL Narasimhan, a few months ago.

With the governor not acting on the minister's request to intervene, his ministry has issued the direction to the state government to cancel all mining leases.

"The mining activities in these areas would adversely affect the tribals of these scheduled areas by way of land alienation and dislocation and harassment arising out of loss of habitat and livelihood," said an order issued by AK Dubey, joint secretary in the ministry.

In a separate letter, the minister told Andhra Pradesh chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy that bauxite mining in Visakhapatnam will destroy the sources of three main rivers -- Gosthani, Champavati and Sarada, which are also main source of irrigation in the region.

He also said that the agreements signed with the private companies for bauxite mining was in total violation of the fifth schedule of the Constitution, which safeguards interests of tribal communities.

"Under these circumstances, I hereby direct the state government of Andhra Pradesh under the clause 3 of the V Schedule of Constitution to cancel the mining leases to APMDC and report compliance," Deo said.

He has the support of rural development minister Jairam Ramesh, who has also opposed bauxite mining in the tribal areas of Visakhapatnam, which shares the border with naxal-affected Odisha.

"I with the Union tribal affairs minister, Mr V Kishore Chandra Deo, would not allow the activity at any cost," he said recently.

Visakhapatnam is also Deo's parliamentary constituency.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

Catch every big hit, every wicket with Crickit, a one stop destination for Live Scores, Match Stats, Infographics & much more. Explore now!

Stay updated with all top Cities including, Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai and more across India. Stay informed on the latest happenings in World News along with Delhi Election 2025 and Delhi Election Result 2025 Live, New Delhi Election Result Live, Kalkaji Election Result Live at Hindustan Times.