Minister allays fear over bauxite mining in agency
Meetings soon to clear misgivings: Konathala Ramakrishna

Staff Reporter

· Jobs will be local balanee maitalned'
· Permission sought from Centre for mining
· Sarpanches to be Involved In Integrated development of agency mandals
· Some 100 villages to be developed as model

VISAKHAPATNAM: Displaced tribal youth will be trained for employment, avenues created for the others to earn a living and ecological balance would be maintained in the proposed bauxite mining in the agency area of Visakhapatnam district, Minister for Commercial Taxes Konathala Ramakrishna said.

Replying to the issues raised by Paderu MLA Lake Raja Rao at the District Review Committee meeting here on Monday, he said meetings would be held at various levels and a State-level meeting would be organised with officials concerned and 'people's representatives to clear misgivings.

Misgivings highlighted

Mr. Raja Rao said there Were misgivings among people since the proposal for bauxite mining was not approved by the Tribal Advisory Council, not discussed in the Assembly nor by the State Cabinet. Telugu Desam party MLA Ch. Ayyanna Patrudu said there was a view that everything regarding the mining was being done secretly.

Mr. Ramakrishna replied that mining would be done through the Andhra Pradesh Mineral Development Corporation and the Centre's permission for mining had been sought. Mr. Raja Rao was welcome to raise the issue in the Assembly, he stated. Sarpanches would be involved in drawing a road map for integrated development of all the 11 agency mandals. The wealth in tribal areas should be utilised for their well-being and society. Axguments that no roads should be laid or schools opened there hold no water, the Minister said.

In accordance with the announcement made by Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy during his visit to the agency area, 100 villages in Koyyuru and G.K. Veedhi mandals would be developed as model villages with all amenities like schools, drinking water and housing. All the 1.361akh tribal families would be helped by taking up various pro-' grammes. Providing access to ITIs and polytechnics, promoting dairying and forming selfhelp groups of farmers with the Girijan Co-operative Corporation as nodal agency were some of them. Minister for Roads & Building and District Incharge Jakkampudi Ramamohana Rao, who presided, said holding of Gram Sabhas (on bauxite mining) was a part of eliciting public opinion.

Training for jobs

District Collector Praveen Prakash said currently 96 of 120 jobs in the Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation properties at Araku, Anantagiri and Borra Caves were held by tribals. They could not be posted in supervisory jobs because of lack of education. To overcome the problem in providing jobs to the displaced in mining, they would be trained in advance. In the first batch, 200 youths would be sent to Hyderabad for on-job apprenticeship with a stipend of Rs.2,500 a month for one and a half years.

They would be absorbed in jobs later. He said that because of the revenue from mining, the income of peripheral gram panchayats would go up to Rs. 1 crore from the current meagre amounts.