Metalnewsnet 6 Apr :

Mr EAS Sarma former union power secretary urged union minister for environment and Mr Forests Jairam Ramesh not to allow bauxite mining in tribal areas of Andhra Pradesh considering stringent measures taken in the US to allow mining of any kind.

He said that the US Environment Protection Authority had tightened the restrictions for mining of any kind to protect the environment. On the other hand, the Government of India was very liberal in allowing the plea of powerful mining lobby to loot rich minerals, ignoring the pleas of social activists and local communities.

Mr Sarma convener of Forum for Better Visakha, dashed off a letter to Mr Ramesh in which he stated that mining in the areas notified under Schedule 5 of the Constitution would be illegal if it were to be entrusted to private companies, as that schedule prohibits non tribals from occupying land in the notified tracts and exploit the underlying minerals.

He said that in fact even the decision to mine was a matter on which the local tribal communities should be fully taken into confidence. There were other serious objections to mining such as the unreasonably low price at which mineral ore was handed over to these private companies, as it had happened in the case of bauxite mining in Visakhapatnam district.

Mr Sarma said that “We have brought this to the notice of the State authorities but the leadership here seems to be in such a nexus with the private developers that our objections have been brushed aside. The Koda kind of a scam can be found in the case of bauxite mining projects in both Orissa and Andhra Pradesh as well.”

He regretted that the MoEF and the Expert Appraisal Committee that deals with the mining projects had been either deliberately indifferent to or inadvertently oblivious of this and had cleared these projects. Evidently, the plight of the tribal did not figure on their agenda.

Mr. Sarma said while the US was cautious in regulating mining, in India, the government was soft towards mining and urged the Minister to study EPA guidelines and the Samata judgment delivered by Supreme Court and direct his officials to take corrective measures.

(Sourced from the Hindu)