KURNOOL: The ongoing excavations at the Chennampalli Fort in Kurnool district with the active involvement of government officials was for a company with Tushar Gandhi, the great grandson of Mahatma Gandhi as its adviser.
Additional Director of Mines Nataraj, who was also part of the team of officials overseeing excavations, said Geomysore Services (India) Pvt. Ltd was given the prospective licence to explore the minerals in 1,500 acres.
This extends up to the Archaeological Survey of India-protected national monuments and inscriptions like the one at Jonnagiri and Yerragudi.
He said the promoters of Deccan Gold Mines Ltd (DGML), and its associate Geomysore Services (India) Pvt. Ltd, tapped Tushar Gandhi, the great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, to aid in-community development for people living in mineral-bearing areas. The company could have sought his services for greater public appeal and avoid the ‘rapacious exploitative image’ of commercial concern, sources said.
People of Chennampalli in Tuggali mandal were forcibly convinced that none other than the grandson of the Mahatma was associated with the mining company.
The proceeds would be justifiably distributed among the stakeholders in the village, they were told. The villagers at the grama sabha were also said to have got the promises of jobs in the gold mining company and improved infrastructure in the village.
It is said Deccan Gold Mining Company chairman Charles E.E. Devenish had put his personal money into the Australian Indian Rural Development Foundation (AIRDF) and launched a series of rural programmes based on the Gandhian model of self-reliant ‘village republics’, specifically in areas where Deccan applied for mines. Tushar Gandhi would work with AIRDF to implement these programmes and would be paid for his services, but neither party disclosed the details.
Geomysore was 80 per cent owned by Perth-based Australian Indian Resources Pty. Ltd (AIR), and the rest was with Cyprus-based Sun Mining and Exploration Ltd. Rama Mines (Mauritius), promoted by AIR had 58 per cent stake in DGML.
DGML’s 100 per cent subsidiary, Indophil Resources Exploration Services Pvt Ltd, was prospecting for gold in Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
Geomysore was prospecting in Jonnagiri, located in western Andhra Pradesh. AIRDF was planning to build 20 toilets at a cost of '10 lakh for Jonnagiri High School, where some 600 students attend, but not a single toilet exists.
