Cargreen

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Friday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking him to withdraw the rights granted by the Center to a private company to mine tungsten in Madurai district.

Stalin urged Prime Minister Modi to intervene and instruct the Union Mines Ministry to withdraw tungsten mining rights granted to Hindustan Zinc Limited following concerns over the site being a biodiversity site. He also asked the Prime Minister to inform the central department to desist from inviting bids for mining without the consent of the Tamil Nadu government.

“I would like to draw your attention to the grim situation in Madurai district arising out of the grant of tungsten mining rights by the Union government and request your immediate intervention to cancel the same,” Stalin said in the letter.

The state government had earlier expressed concern over auctioning of mining rights to crucial and strategic minerals in a letter sent by Tamil Nadu Water Resources and Natural Resources Minister Durai Murugan last month.

“But unfortunately, the Hon’ble Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Coal and Mines had rejected them in his letter dated November 2, 2023, mentioning that the auction of crucial minerals by the Ministry of Mines cannot be withheld, in the larger importance of the country,” Stalin further said in the letter. “Meanwhile, the Union Ministry of Mines has declared Hindustan Zinc Limited as the preferred bidder of Nayakkarpatti tungsten block (critical and strategic mineral) under Tranche IV on 7.11.2024.”

This Nayakkarpatti block includes villages like Kavattayampatty, Ettimangalam, Vallalapatty, Arittapatty, Kidaripatty and Narasingampatty.

“Among them, Arittapatti is a notified heritage site for biodiversity and famous for its archaeological monuments including cave temples, sculptures, Jain symbols, Tamil Brahmi scripts and stone beds of Pancha Pandavar,” Stalin said. “Any mining activity will cause irreparable damage to these sites. Moreover, commercial mining in such densely populated villages will definitely impact the people of these villages. This has caused immense fear among the people, who fear that their livelihoods will be lost forever. Therefore, the Tamil Nadu government would never allow such mining to take place in these areas.”

Activists and villagers have been protesting against the proposed mining project in the environmentally sensitive zone for the past month. Comprising a chain of seven arid granite hills, Arittapatti acts as a watershed and supports 72 lakes, 200 natural spring pools and three check dams.

Tamil Nadu has not received any application from Hindustan Zinc Limited (HZL), a subsidiary of Vedanta, nor has the state granted permission to the company to mine tungsten in the proposed 5,000 hectares of land in Madurai district, state forest minister K Ponmudy said. November 21.

“In view of the above situation, I urge you to direct the Ministry of Mines to cancel the award of tungsten mining rights given to Hindustan Zinc Limited in Madurai district,” Stalin said on Thursday. “I also request you to direct the Ministry of Mines to desist from inviting bids for mining without the consent of the concerned state government.”

On November 22, DMK MP K Kanimozhi condemned the project and recalled that Vedanta’s copper smelter in Thoothukudi – the Lok Sabha seat it represents – had to be closed due to environmental damage.