Public hearing on bauxite mining scheduled for Oct 3

Not heeding to the growing protests against the proposal to undertake bauxite mining in the agency (tribal) areas of the Visakhapatnam district, the Andhra Pradesh Government is going ahead with it and the public hearing on the mining is slated to be held at Chintapalli in October by the State Pollution Control Board. Earlier, public hearings were conducted in Visakhpatnam and Vizianagaram districts for the proposed alumina refineries by the Jindal group and Ras-al- Khaima group. The raw material, bauxite, is to be supplied by the Andhra Pradesh Mineral Development Agency (APMDC). The corporation will undertake mining in the Eastern Ghats. Samata, a local NGO fighting against the proposal, has urged the State Government not to conduct the public hearing at Chintapalli and to give up the proposal. All the major political parties, except the ruling Congress party, have voiced their opposition to the proposal and the CPI(M), in particular, is conducting a campaign against it. Opposition voiced According to the Executive Director of Samata, Mr R. Ravi, the State Government has not conducted a proper survey in the area and obtained the consent of the local Girijans before conducting the public hearing. He said the consent of the gram sabha was mandatory before undertaking any such activity in the scheduled areas. －－business line