The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Opposition mounts to beach sand project

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Wednesday, Aug 08, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Opposition mounts to beach sand project

Correspondent

VIZIANAGARAM: The proposed unit at one of the coastal villages in Poosapatirega or Bhogapuram mandals in the district for extraction of ilmenite from beach sands is facing stiff opposition from both elected representatives as well as from fishermen community. Secretary to Government Y. Srilakshmi, in May this year, asked Collector B. Kishore to allot 769 hectares of land to Bothli Beach Sands Project in either of the two said mandals for establishment of the unit.

The coastline in the two mandals is 27 kms and, according to Geologists, it has rich mineral ore. Fishermen fear that the unit will affect environment and also their dependence on the sea.

In order to express their protest against the unit, sarpanches S. Narasimhulu(Kondarajupalem), B. Musali (Chintapalli), former mandal territorial constituency members from Konada and ippalavalasa and fishermen on Tuesday submitted a memorandum to Collector B. Kishore complaining that representatives of the company had been conducting survey along the coastline for the past week and demanded that the proposal be dropped immediately.

Rythu Sangam general secretary M. Suryanarayana said recently that the land value in the two mandals which are close to Visakhapatnam would be anywhere between Rs. 25 - Rs. 30 lakhs per acre. Some 30 per cent of the 769 hectares is said to be assigned land and it was distributed among Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the past.

The beneficiaries threatened to launch an agitation if the proposal was not dropped forthwith.

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