The Hindu | Staff Reporter | Andhra Pradesh | Oct 11, 2005

• lea for transparent policy
• Rights forum for re-convening of public hearing
• Hearing only after detailed resettlement plan, says Samata activist

VISAKHAPATNAM: An hour-long public hearing conducted by the Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board (APPCB) on Polavaram (Indira Sagar) multi-purpose project on Monday turned into a tame affair with no major objections. “As the benefits are far-reaching, I think none has any objection to make,” District Collector Praveen Prakash declared after winding up the public hearing held at the Collectorate, amid unprecedented police bandobust. (more…)

The Hindu | Staff Reporter | Sep 28, 2005

• Concern over the fate of tribals once they are shifted to non-tribal areas
• Submergence of over 260 villages feared in East and West Godavari and Khammam districts by Polavaram project
• Officials accused of behaving rudely with affected people and not giving them proper information

A WORRIED LOT: Saraswati Rao, an activist of the Movement Against Uranium Project in Nalgonda, speaking at a workshop in Visakhapatnam on Tuesday.

VISAKHAPATNAM: P. Jogamma, hailing from Maduvalasa village of Pachipenta mandal in Vizianagaram district, does not know how to narrate injustice done to her and others due to the Peddagedda reservoir project by which they have been displaced.

Waving copies of pattas issued to them, she points out as to how they have been denied possession of land for which they were given the pattas long ago. (more…)

Indian Express | September 16 2005

POLAVARAM: Social activist and director of non-governmental organisation Samata Rebbapragada Ravi has demanded that the Government give land to the Polavaram oustees in lieu of the land lost due to the construction of the project.

He told reporters that giving monetary compensation in lieu of the land would be of no use.

He also strongly opposed shifting of the oustee tribals to the urban areas, as the culture shock would be too much for the forest-dwelling tribals. (more…)

The Hindu | Staff Reporter | Monday, Sep 05, 2005

• CPI(M) to drum up support in Parliament against MoU with Jindal Group
• GSI survey reports about 500 to 600 million tonnes bauxite deposits in Easten Ghats
• Loss of green cover and contamination of groundwater feared

CAUSE FOR CONCERN: Member of Parliament Midiam Babu Rao receiving a representation from Girijan youth at a seminar conducted by Andhra Pradesh Girijan Sangham on anti-bauxite mining agitation in Visakhapatnam on Sunday.

VISAKHAPATNAM: CPI(M) MP Midiam Babu Rao on Sunday found fault with the State Government for signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Jindal Group for setting up an alumina plant and refinery in the district without consulting tribals and their representatives.

Speaking at a seminar on bauxite mining organised by the Andhra Pradesh Girijan Sangham (APGS), he said he would oppose the deal in the Parliament and try to drum up support of other MPs against the permission granted to Jindal Group to establish the plant and refinery at a cost of Rs. 9,000 crores. (more…)

The Hindu | Santosh Patnaik | Friday, Aug 12, 2005

VISAKHAPATNAM: Even before grounding work, the Jindal South West Holding Limited (JSWHL), which wants to set up an alumina smelter and refinery in the district at a cost of Rs. 9,000 crores, is facing a rough weather.

The JSWHL can win its first battle in its quest for making use of huge bauxite deposits only when it can overcome protests from various social action groups. (more…)

Business Line | Visakhapatnam, July 18, 2005

SAMATA, an NGO working in the agency area of Visakhapatnam district, has urged the State Government to scrap the MoU signed recently with the Jindal group for exploitation of bauxite reserves in the region and setting up a smelter here.

At a press meet here on Monday, Mr Rebbapragada Ravi, Executive Director, said that the Government had signed the MoU with the Jindal group in a hurry.”It will result in an ecological disaster in the tribal tracts in the eastern ghats. The economic benefits resulting from the project are elusive and in any event they will not reach the tribals,” he said. (more…)

Business Line | Visakhapatnam, April 28, 2005

THE recent proposal by the State Government to permit bauxite mining in East Godavari and Visakhapatnam districts has evoked protests from environmentalists, NGOs and others because of the ecological implications and the likely fallout on the lifestyle of tribals.

It is estimated that the Eastern Ghats (from Papikondalu in East Godavari to Sileru in Visakhapatnam) contain 700 million tonnes of bauxite. The Telugu Desam Government made an attempt to lease out the area to a Dubai company but there was stiff opposition to the move. It had to be given up. It now seems to be the turn of the Congress Government. (more…)

Frontline | ASHA KRISHNAKUMAR | recently in Visakhapatnam district | Volume 21 – Issue 19, Sept. 11 – 24, 2004

“ONE day in 1987 a few men in half pants, wielding chisels and hammers and tapes and magnifying glasses, descended on our village. Then came the drilling machines. The men then started to dig wells. Nobody told us who they were or why they had come. Soon revenue officials descended on our hamlet and asked us to vacate. They offered Rs.5,000 a family. More men came, tractors started leaving loads of stones everywhere. We were not told anything. We heard that a road was to be laid, and soon enough work began,” recounts S. Pollanna, headman of Nimalapadu, a tribal village in Visakhapatnam’s Paderu panchayat in Ananthagiri mandal. (more…)

Down to Earth | Sep 15, 2004

The milestone read Nimalapedu 0. We had travelled through the forest regions of Vishakapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, to this tribal village, which we knew had stoutly resisted and tamed the might of the Birlas when the latter was given a lease to mine calcite in their backyard. This was the village whose battle led, in 1997, to a historic judgement of the Supreme Court that put a stop to the greed of private companies, eager to get their hands on a lease for land in tribal areas to mine or set up a factory. Named after the dynamic tribal rights organisation that took the case to the high court and thence to the Supreme Court on behalf of the villagers — Samata — the judgement today is the biggest thorn in the sides of those who have a vested interest in inviting private and foreign mining companies into such areas. (more…)

The Hindu | January 7, 2004

GOOD GOVERNANCE sounds like another new fancy project of the day. The fundamental duty of any government was to do good. It is unfortunate that we have to keep reminding our political parties of their duty and the rare opportunity we get is during elections. The most important question we need to ask is `good governance for whom?’ Elections are a crucial democratic space when people should demand not just good governance but socially just good governance and continue challenging the government the next five years as they always suffer from amnesia.

K. Bhanumathi
Social activist

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