The Hindu : APMDC efforts on to net profits

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 08, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

APMDC efforts on to net profits

By Our Staff Reporter

CUDDAPAH, FEB. 7. The Andhra Pradesh Mineral Development Corporation (APMDC) Managing Director, R. Harpreet Singh, asserted on Saturday that efforts were in progress to ensure that the corporation reaped profits on the lines of the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC).

Addressing a meeting at Mangampet Barytes Project (MBP) at Mangampet in Obulavaripalle mandal, he said APMDC was striving to regulate its expenditure and ensure that it earned profits. The MBP, established in 1975, had a workforce of 500 and extending indirect employment to about 1,000 families. It had largest barytes reserves in the world and had been earning valuable foreign exchange for the country and the State. The APMDC chairman, G. Mohan Rao, said granite mines at Cheemakurthy in Prakasam district, which were unique in the world, were brought on stream. The marble stone deposits at Cumbum and blue marble ore at Visakhapatnam and several mines were under the APMDC. He observed that workers' role was crucial in the MBP earning profits and assured to resolve their justified demands in consultation with the Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu. A hospital was being built at Mangampet with a sum of Rs. 5 lakhs to extend medicare to project workers.

The Collector, Jayesh Ranjan, said setting up of a mines and geology museum at Mangampet was on the cards to propagate the mineral resources available in Cuddapah district. He promised cooperation in the construction of a hospital at Mangampet.

The APMDC Executive Director, B. Rajender Reddy, said the corporation had been generating employment for four decades. New mines were being dug to provide employment opportunities to people , he said and urged the workers to work with dedication to earn profits for the corporation.

The NEDCAP chairman, K. Narayanaiah Naidu, said Mangampet was also renowned for cultural artistes, besides the barytes mines. The Deputy Director of Mines and Geology, Lakshminarayana, suggested training to workers on safety aspects.

The former Rajampet MP, G. Ramaiah, sought steps to resolve workers' problems besides paying compensation and rehabilitating villagers of Mangampet who were displaced by the mines. He sought an ex-gratia of at least Rs. 2 lakhs to workers who died in mine accidents.

Leaders of the employees' union of APMDC, Ch. Chandrasekhar Reddy, G. Obulesu and Srinivasa Rao, sought compassionate appointment for the kin of workers who died in harness, regularisation of services of temporary workers and rehabilitation of people in the `danger zone'. APMDC Board directors, Y. Ramakrishna, Kishan, Jaffer, Damodara Rao, Vaman Goud, Director of Geology, T. Devendranath, MBP project manager, H. Nagaraju, Rajampet RDO, Venkateswarlu, Obulavaripalle mandal president, Santhamma, officials and workers participated.

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