Residents of several villages of Gudupalle mandal in Kuppam Assembly constituency lamented that despite their repeated appeals to stop the granite mining activity in the surroundings, nothing tangible has been done, while the danger to human lives and damage to the residential areas continues.
About 70 residents of the eight villages of Kothur, Kotamakanapalle, Chinna Kotamanapalle, Kondasamudram, Chinna Agraharam, Talli Agraharam, Srinivasapuram and Krishnarajapuram of Gudupalle mandal had submitted a complaint to Achary Talloju, member of the National Commission for the Backward Classes, New Delhi, in February this year. The residents said they had also complained to the National Green Tribunal. The complaint carried the names, Aadhaar details, and phone numbers of the villagers along with their signatures. Some senior citizens among them deplored that even after five months, their grievances were not resolved.
The villagers said that their hamlets are being subjected to grave dangers in the form of blasting of granites in six quarries. Incessant blasting of rocks and boulders have led to dust pollution which is affecting surrounding crops, and posing a risk to the villagers in the form of splinters hitting the houses and causing injuries to the residents.
It is observed that a majority of the stakeholders in the granite mining activity owe allegiance to one political party or the other.
A 70-year-old farmer said that the mining activity had adversely impacted the future of the biodiversity of the Kuppam region, which is being reflected in the form of the growing incidence of wild elephants raiding the crops, leading to man-animal conflict. The tragic incident of a wild elephant trampling one to death and injuring three in Gudupalle mandal on Friday night has only renewed the fears of the villagers. They claim that the mining activity had destroyed the habitats of the wild elephants, forcing them to stray into villages and fields. The villagers further alleged that the concerned were forced to send incorrect reports to the higher authorities on the mining activity.
Meanwhile, the mining in Kuppam has become a vexed issue in recent months, forcing TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu to shoot off a series of letters to the Governor and environmental regulatory bodies at the Centre. The local YSRCP leaders countered the development, saying that the TDP leaders were making baseless allegations of mining activity in the region.
