State keeps uranium projects in abeyance, says eco group

State keeps uranium projects in abeyance, says eco group

Staff Reporter, The Hindu

24th January 2006

*Pressure from locals and Suravaram does the trick'

* Lives of two crore people in peril

* Awareness programme organised by JVV

* Agitation will be intensified in Nalgonda district

* Lives of two crore people in peril

* Awareness programme organised by JVV

* Agitation will be intensified in Nalgonda district

VIJAYAWADA: Though the Ministry for Environment and Forests had cleared grounding of the two uranium projects at Nalgonda District, the State government, due to pressure from locals and Member of Parliament Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy, has kept the issue in abeyance, said Ms. Srilakshmi, secretary, Movement Against Uranium Project (MAUP), here on Monday.

Speaking at an awareness programme organised by Jana Vigyana Vedika on the negative impact of uranium projects in five districts around Nalgonda, Srilakshmi said the lives of two crore people were in peril and the radioactivity would affect both living and non-living things. "Uranium under the earth is safe. But, once it is taken out into the open, the radiation, which the metal emits will cause immense amount of harm. The best example is the pathetic condition of the lakhs of people living in Jadugoda village in Jharkhand where the Uranimum Corporation of India Limited is creating havoc."

She also screened a special story done by a TV channel on the health hazards faced by the Jadugoda villages due to the unabated mining activity by UCIL.

Serious threat

Srilakshmi said that Khammam, Hyderabad, Mahabubnagar, Prakasam, Krishna and Guntur districts would be severely affected by the open mining activity proposed at Nalgonda. "There is every possibility of uranium getting into the waters of the Nagarjunasagar and Akkampally reservoirs. Besides, the uranium radiation has the capacity to travel hundred of miles through air," she warned.

She said MAUP would intensify the fight against setting up of uranium project at Nalgonda by staging several awareness programme in colleges and schools in all the five districts. She said the proposed project at Lambapur and Peddagattu villages would fetch just 686 kgs from 1,250 tonnes extracted from the mines everyday and the waste would be dumped in the ponds. "The UCIL is making a lot of false promises to the locals by offering them jobs. There are just 800 jobs available in both mining
and processing units, that too semi skilled jobs."

Ms Sajaya, a member of the forum, said that the UCIL had flouted all Central Government norms by but enlightening the locals on the project. "The public hearing conducted by the district administration which was held at the village was a hogwash. We went to High Court and got a stay as the village was inaccessible to people."