By IANS
Hyderabad : Intensifying their protest against proposed bauxite mining in the tribal area of Andhra Pradesh's Visakhapatnam district, the opposition Tuesday disrupted a review meeting in the coastal city of Visakhapatnam and also manhandled a minister.
Kanna Lakshminarayana, the minister Incharge of the district, had to face the ire of protestors outside the Zilla Parishad office, the venue of the meeting. He was pushed by angry protestors, including NGOs, and the police had a tough time escorting him to the meeting hall.
The main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Bharatiya Janata Party and the left parties continued their protest inside the meeting hall and grilled the minister over the proposed plans to provide water from Godavari river to the alumina and smelter projects proposed to be set up by Jindal Group and Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) in north coastal Andhra.
When the minister tried to go ahead with the agenda of the meeting, the opposition legislators rushed towards the podium. Amid the pandemonium, the meeting was adjourned.
The opposition alleged that the government was trying to go ahead with the projects opposed by the people and had also drawn plans to supply river water to the plants. They fear that drinking water supplied to the region would be diverted for the projects.
The state government plans to undertake bauxite mining in tribal areas through the AP Mineral Development Corporation (APMDC) and to provide the raw material to refineries to set up by the Jindal group and RAK.
The NGOs said that bauxite mining would have adverse impact on the livelihood and lifestyle of the tribals and cause damage to environment, especially water pollution.
At a public hearing last month on the Jindal plant in Vizianagaram district bordering Visakhapatnam district, people had opposed the Rs.90 billion aluminium factory.
Tribal farmers of three villages in S. Kota mandal in the Vizianagaram district have been staging protests against the aluminium factory. The authorities plan to acquire 1,264 acres of agricultural land in the villages for the factory coming up on 1,500 acres of land.
It was in July 2005 that Jindal Group's JSW Aluminium Limited signed a memorandum of understanding with state government for setting up a 1.4-million tonne capacity aluminium refinery. JSW needs about 4.5 million tonnes of bauxite ore annually, which would be supplied by the state government.
The Geological Survey of India has estimated about 1,000 million tonnes of bauxite reserves in the tribal tracts of Visakhapatnam.
The state government recently signed an MoU with RAK assuring supply of bauxite to its proposed factory in Visakhapatnam district.
RAK plans to set up alumina plant of 2.5 million tonnes capacity and an aluminium smelter of 0.25 tonnes capacity with a total investment of $2 billion dollars (about Rs.90 billion).
It has requested the government to supply bauxite to their plant by allocating 224 million tonnes of bauxite deposits falling in the Jerrela group of villages in Vishakhapatnam district.