Hyderabad: An all-party meeting held here on Monday resolved to put up a united fight against the proposal by the Centre to undertake mining of uranium in the Nallamala forests. Leaders of the Congress, CPI, CPM, Jana Sena, and the Telangana Jana Samiti, apart from representatives of NGOs and environment specialists, participated in the meeting.
Jana Sena chief K. Pawan Kalyan said: “I am ready to sacrifice my life even if a single tree is cut down. The incident of a Class X boy from a tribal hamlet approaching me and expressing his concern over uranium mining, and asking his family to vacate the forest shook me up,” he said.TPCC president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy maintained that the Congress had always been against mining of uranium. “A committee has been formed under the leadership of former MP V. Hanumantha Rao. The mining will be extremely hazardous and will pollute the Krishna water. We have to act now as the government has decided to extract uranium from 2024,” he said.
Reminding that the permission of the State Forest Advisory Board was required to carry out mining, Malkajgiri MP A. Revanth Reddy said: “The board chaired by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has met only once in 2016. At this very meeting, it was decided to mine uranium. Forest field officer Bala Swamy has also given a clearance certificate for it.”
Asserting that he has evidence, he alleged that 16 scientists have died under suspicious circumstances between 2009 and 2013 in Nallamala forest. TJS president M. Kodandaram said uranium mining was very dangerous for the state and demanded that the government take action to stop exploration for uranium mining in Nallamala forests.
