Tungsten exploration: TN blames it on Centre

Chennai: No permission has been granted to Hindustan Zinc Limited, a subsidiary of the controversial Vedanta group, for carrying out any mineral exploration in the  in Melur taluk of Madurai district, the State government clarified on Thursday as protests against the proposed mining project, to be carried out on 2015.5 hectares of land in the villages of Kulanipatti and Melur, touched a crescendo.

An official press release said that it was the Union Government that floated the tenders for auctioning the tungsten block spread out in 2015.51 hectares on June 24 and finally awarded the lease to Hindustan Zinc limited on November 7 for mineral mining and research though the State government had neither received any application from the company nor had given any permission related to mining.

Before starting the mineral exploration, it is mandatory for the company to obtain a slew of licenses, permits, permissions, concessions, approvals and consents relating to mining operations from a wide range of government departments and agencies, many of whom coming under the State government.

The preferred bidder for the project, in this case Hindustan Zinc, would have to obtain forest, wildlife, environmental and groundwater clearances that are issued by different departments before starting the mining operation and very importantly should get the local grama sabha’s consent to start the mineral exploration itself.

State Forest Minister K Ponmudi, speaking to media at the Secretariat, said that when the permissions were sought from the State departments, instructions would be issued to reject them. Ponmudi said Chief Minister M K Stalin wanted the Arittapatti area, where the tungsten exploration would be centred, to be conserved as a reserve forest.

He said the region was known for its biodiversity and as a sanctuary for many rare species of birds. Many of the other local groups and political leaders like Madurai MP S Venkatesan and PMK President Anbumani Ramadoss, who are opposing the project, also point to the region’s eco-sensitivity and heritage value as reasons for not allowing the mining by Vedanta group.

Among the other approvals that the mining company would have to get from the government are mining plan approval, consent to establish, permission for opening a mine, permission for installation and trail operation of the various equipment used in the project, railway siding approval, permission for diesel storage and power line approvals.

Tungsten, which is a strategic mineral having wide applications in defense purposes, automobiles and medical industries, is extracted from Scheelite, which is found in abundance in the Nayakkarpatti block.

But local environmentalists and culture protectors have been putting pressure on the State government and the Chief Minister to not allow the project as the region’s biodiversity and heritage sites would be affected by the mining operation.

That Hindustan Zinc happens to be a subsidiary of Vedanta is another reason that has brought environmentalists into the fight against the project as the group’s Sterlite Copper plant in Thoothukudi is seen as a controversial violator of environmental and other norms. The police firing in Thoothukudi on those who took out a rally against Sterlite in May, 2018, which took a toll of 13 lives, besides injuring over a hundred people, has earned a bad name for the company that everyone abhors its subsidiaries that are looked at with suspicion.