india

Updated: Jun 25, 2019 19:32 IST

Andhra Pradesh chief minister Jagan Mohan Reddy on Tuesday ordered the stoppage of bauxite ore mining in the Eastern Ghats of Visakhapatnam district where it had run into opposition by local tribals and was facing resistance from Maoists on the Andhra-Odisha border.

At a conference of Indian Police Service ( IPS) officers at Amaravati, Reddy said the controversial government order issued by the previous Chandrababu Naidu government on November 5, 2015 on the bauxite mining would be scrapped immediately.

The government order (GO) had permitted AP Mineral Development Corporation (APMDC) to take up bauxite mining in 1,212 hectares in 13 stretches in Chintapalli and Gudem Kotha Veedhi revenue blocks in Visakhapatnam district. However, the Naidu government put the GO in abeyance following protests by local tribals and environmentalists.

“The government is not going to lose much by giving up bauxite mining. We do not want to take up mining that would create unrest among the tribal communities. We want restoration of peace in the area, which is more important for us,” Reddy said.

He asked the police officials to win the confidence of the tribals and see that their rights were not infringed. “Keep visiting the tribal areas at least once a month and attend to their issues. We need to ensure that the tribals do not get influenced by the Maoists,” the CM said.

Bauxite mining has been a major issue of tribal unrest in the forest areas of Visakhapatnam for over a decade. In 2007, the then Congress government in combined AP headed by Y S Rajasekhar Reddy gave mining leases to the APMDC in 1,876 hectares of forest area in Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam districts.

The APMDC, in turn, entered into agreements in 2007 with Jindal South West Limited and ANRAK (a company belonging to UAE’s Ras Al Khaimah) for supply of bauxite ore for setting up of alumina refineries. While ANRAK had got alumina refinery project at Makavaripalem in Narasipatnam Division of Visakhapatnam district, Jindal South-West Limited had bagged an alumina refinery near Srungavarapukota in Vizianagaram district. The investment in these two projects is estimated to be around Rs 15,000 crore.

However, local tribals comprising Bhagata, Gond, Konda Reddi and Samantha who are opposed to bauxite mining, had been resisting the officials from taking up mining activity. Taking advantage of the unrest among the local tribes, Maoists stepped up their activity in these tribal areas bordering Odisha state and have been indulging in violence.

After Naidu came to power in 2014, he scrapped the MoU with ANRAK and in 2015, while the Jindal group company shelved its project.

The TDP government later issued a fresh GO No. 97 authorizing APMDC to take up mining, as National Aluminum Company (NALCO) expressed interest in setting up an alumina refinery with a capacity of 1.4 million tonne in the area. Later, the GO was kept in abeyance under pressure.