The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : SCCL project may displace thousands

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Nov 22, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version


=

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

SCCL project may displace thousands

Staff Reporter

BJP team fears destruction of forests due to excavation of open cast project

UNCERTAIN FUTURE: The BJP team interacting with land oustees of Tadicherla coal block at Malhar mandal in Karimnagar district.

KARIMNAGAR: The proposed open cast project (OCP) at Tadicherla coal block phase-I of Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL) to excavate about 48,000 million tonnes of coal for the 500 MW Bhupalapalli thermal power plant is likely to pose a threat to the environment and displace several thousands of people.

The BJP study committee on Singareni, which is headed by its State executive committee member S. Kumar and other leaders C. Venkatanarayana Reddy and Sashibushan Kache visited the interior Tadicherla mandal and interacted with the proposed OCP coal project oustees.

Fears expressed

During their findings, they expressed the fear that the precious forest reserves would vanish with the excavation of the open cast project and the groundwater table would decline considerably with the excavation of coal from about a depth of 350 metres.

Besides, it would also displace many tribals, who have only recently taken to agriculture with the decline of the naxalite movement in the region.

They said that two villages, Tadicherla and Kapuram, could disappear from the district’s map with the execution of OCP and the poor would be displaced as the Singareni management had refused to provide employment to the oustees of the project.

BJP plea

BJP Singareni study team chairman S. Kumar told The Hindu, “We are not against development of the region, but we oppose destruction of the serene atmosphere in this forest-dominated mandal.” He demanded that the Singareni management take up the underground mine instead of open cast project, which would cause a grave environmental problem and displace people.

Stating that over 10,000 people would be displaced under the OCP in Tadicherla mandal, he demanded the Singareni management to provide employment to all the land oustees in the proposed project. He also suggested the management to provide training to the local youth and provide jobs.

He said that they would submit their report to the party high command and submit a memorandum to the Chief Minister and Singareni management to protect the rights of land oustees of Singareni projects.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Andhra Pradesh