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Arittapatti village, near Madurai, which is a biodiversity heritage site. File
| Photo Credit: G. Moorthy
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to cancel the tungsten mining rights awarded to a private company in Madurai district, considering the biodiversity heritage site in the proposed area. He further stated that mining would “definitely affect” people in the villages of that area.
Though the Tamil Nadu government in October 2023 raised concerns about the auctioning of mining rights of critical and strategic minerals, the Union Minister for Coal and Mines had rejected them, contending that the auction of critical minerals by the Union Ministry of Mines cannot be withheld in the larger interests of the country.
Earlier this month, the Ministry of Mines declared Hindustan Zinc Limited as the preferred bidder of Nayakkarpatti tungsten block comprising six villages, including Arittapatti in Madurai, which is a notified biodiversity heritage site and is famous for archaeological monuments, including cave temples, sculptures, Jain symbols, Tamil Brahmi scripts, and Pancha Pandavar stone beds.
“Any mining activity will cause irreparable damage to these sites. In addition, commercial mining in such densely populated villages will definitely affect the people in these villages. This has caused immense anguish to the people, who fear that their livelihood may be lost forever,” Mr. Stalin contended.
Maintaining that the Government of Tamil Nadu “would never allow any such mining to be undertaken in these areas,” Mr. Stalin further requested the Prime Minister to instruct the Ministry of Mines to cancel the tungsten mining rights given to Hindustan Zinc Limited in Madurai.
The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister further requested Mr. Modi to instruct the Ministry of Mines to desist from floating any bids for mining without the consent of the State government concerned.
Published – November 29, 2024 01:25 pm IST
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