‘No ambiguity on bauxite mining issue,’ says Tribal Welfare Minister, AP

Minister for Tribal Welfare, Social Welfare and Empowerment Ravela Kishore Babu on Sunday hit out at the opposition party leader for criticising the State government’s stand on bauxite mining and claimed that the government would not do anything against the wishes of the tribal people in the Visakha Agency area.

Stating that there was no ambiguity in the government’s stand on bauxite mining in Visakhapatnam district, Mr. Kishore Babu said even on Saturday, the State Cabinet discussed the mining issue.

“Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has made it clear that bauxite mining will be allowed only when the tribal people give consent to it,” he said.

However, the Minister parried questions on whether the State government supported the mining activity in the Agency area. He was quick to add: “We have already released a white paper on the issue. The government will not take any decision in a hasty manner,” he said.

The AP Government has made its stand clear on bauxite mining issue a number of times earlier. They have always held that this project was very crucial for the state's overall economic development; any hindrance in the way of unleashing the state's mineral development potential would mean pushing the entire mineral-rich Visakha Agency area back into the darkness of poverty. However, it is only very obvious that they would stay away from taking any hasty decision until people's contents are with them.