Tribal welfare body bans bauxite mining in Vizag Agency

By SNV Sudhir

Visakhapatnam, Oct  16, 2013: The decision by the AP Tribes Advisory Council not to allow bauxite mining in the Vizag Agency might be the last nail in the coffin for the long-pending controversial issue in this part of the state. The Council passed a unanimous resolution on Tuesday banning bauxite mining.

Cancellation of lease licences given to APMDC to mine bauxite and the MoUs the state agency had signed with private companies for the supply of the mined ore had led to a standoff between the government and  Union tribal welfare minister V. Kishore Chandra Deo, who never lost an opportunity to take a dig at the chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on the issue.

A high-level committee set up by the Union ministry of environment and forests to study the socio-economic and ecological impacts of the proposed bauxite mining in Vizag Agency in 2011, had recommended going ahead with the mining but only after getting approval from the AP Tribes Advisory Council.

The four-member committee headed by former director general of forests  J.C. Kala was appointed after the mining proposal had come under bitter criticism from the locals and the public representatives, before giving stage II clearances by the MoEF.   

The Committee was given the mandate to study whether the proposed mining will have any negative effect on the social and economic well being of the local communities.  

However, it remains to be seen whether APMDC would cancel the MoUs it signed with JSW and ANRAK in 2007 on the supply of the bauxite ore it proposed to mine in Vizag Agency. And also if the MoEF cancels the stage I clearances taking the Council’s resolution into consideration.

“It’s high time that the state government cancelled the MoUs it had signed with the private companies on moral grounds as the Tribes Advisory Council unanimously resolved disallowing bauxite mining,” said tribal rights and anti mining activist, G. Srinivas.

The objective of the AP Tribes Advisory Council is to advise the Governor in the matters pertaining to welfare and advancement of Scheduled Tribes. No regulation shall be made on the issues related to tribals unless the Governor consults the Council.

Tribal welfare minister, Deo earlier wrote to the state governor also asking him to scrap the MoUs state government signed with the private firms, with special powers conferred on him on the Schedule V areas.