The Andhra Pradesh government on Thursday cancelled the bauxite mining lease in the tribal area in the state's Visakhapatnam district, fulfilling another poll promise of Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy.
The YSRCP government issued six orders, revoking the mining lease grant for bauxite in about 1,520 hectares in Jarella of Chintapalli agency area.
The mining lease was granted by the erstwhile Congress government under Y S Rajasekhar Reddy to the Andhra Pradesh Mineral Development Corporation (APMDC) for a period of 30 years, evoking protests from the local tribal community.
The terms of reference for the lease has clearly mentioned that the mining should be carried out after taking necessary clearances.
The two-year period for starting the work ended in January 2017 and the terms of the agreement could not be fructify on account of impossibility of performance due to recurring acts of violence in the area because opposition to the prospect of mining in tribal areas, said an official statement.
The public opinion and mood of the locals was against the mining of bauxite in tribal areas and the work did not commence due to violence and other untoward incidents, it said.
Members of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), the banned outfit, who still hold influence in the area, were also staunchly opposed to the mining.
However, activists pointed out that while there was some violence, but the movement was mostly non-violent, and led was led by adivasis, rights groups and other parties.
The mining lease was given in various parts of the agency area to the APMDC, which in turn had signed an MoU with private parties but could not carry out the task.
Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister and Tribal Welfare Minister Pushpa Srivani had expressed her gratitude to the Chief Minister for keeping his word by banning the bauxite mining in tribal areas. She said this will be remembered by the tribals for a long time to come.
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IANS inputs
IANS inputs