widespread resistance to a new uranium mine and processing plant in his long-time Pulivendula assembly constituency in Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh has come as a shock to chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy. People from his pocket borough have dug in against his pet project a 26.79-million tonne uranium mining project in Tummalapalle village. Particularly at issue are the strong-arm measures employed to ram it down the throats of the people.
A public hearing conducted by the Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board (appcb) for environmental clearance at the 300-household village, Tummalapalle, on September 10 turned out to be a farce hundreds of people from the four affected villages who opposed the project were chased away from the venue. Rapid Action Force personnel were deployed in force since the morning along all routes leading to the venue to scare away protestors.
Instead, hundreds of people from faraway villages, and students, were brought in by the chief minister's younger brother and Kadapa Lok Sabha member Y S Vivekananda Reddy to drum up support. Several people told Down To Earth that students of mining technology from private polytechnic colleges in Pulivendula and Proddutur, who were promised jobs, were brought to the public hearing.
Strong opposition The Uranium Corporation of India Limited (ucil) will mine uranium in four villages -- Tummalapalle, Mabbu Chintalapalle, Bhoomayyagaripalle and Rachakuntapalle -- in Pulivendula assembly constituency, about 70 km from Kadapa town. It also wants a tailings pond for waste in K K Kottalu village, 6 km from these mines. The cost of the project is Rs 1,029.57 crore.
A total of 45.48 million tonnes of uranium reserves with 0.0407 per cent of u 308 uranium were identified in this area a decade ago. Since ucil was busy with the Paddagattu-Lambapur project in Nalgonda district initially, it did not pay much attention to the Kadapa project. But after appcb denied clearance to the Nalgonda project, ucil set its sights on Pulivendula.
After the opposition to the Nalgonda project, the people of Kadapa too were not ready to allow the project. But, as Rajasekhara was keen, his brother took upon himself the task of mobilising public opinion in favour. Vivekananda's efforts were unsuccessful even after he took 28 farmers to Jaduguda in Jharkhand to show them how safe the ucil plant there was (see 'Up against uranium' Down To Earth, May 15, 2005). If his behind-the-scenes machinations had little impact, Vivekananda's presence on the dais at the hearing too did not impress the opponents of the project, even though this area is considered to be a stronghold of the Reddy family. It must have come as a shock to the overlords to see hundreds of women swarming the dais, shouting, "We don't want this project". This would have been unthinkable a few days ago.
If anything, Vivekananda's presence was an incitement. People waved a poster of a deformed boy from Jaduguda. Though district collector Krishna Babu asked the protestors not to disturb the hearing, it became clear that the proceedings were degenerating to farce. While pro-project speakers eulogised the project, protesters raised slogans opposing the project. Satya Lakshmi and K Sajaya, Movement against Uranium Projects (maup) activists, were heckled.
Along with them, Human Rights Forum convener K Balagopal and a few organisations, including the cpi(m)'s Revolutionary Writers' Association and a lawyers' group submitted memorandums opposing the project.
