Andhra Pradesh Tribal Welfare Minister P Balaraju today said he was against bauxite mining in agency Girigen Adivasi-dominated areas in Visakhapatnam district. Addressing a news conference here, he said ‘as a tribal, I am against bauxite mining in the agency areas in the district.
I cannot work against the wishes of the tribals.’ He said he had already expressed his opinion to the Chief Minister and also told him about views of the tribal people on the sensitive issue. He said Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh and Union Tribal Welfare Minister V Kishore Chandra Deo, at a public meeting in Chintapalli yesterday, also expressed their opposition to bauxite mining in the district. Mr Balaraju said Girijan Cooperative Corporation (GCC), which works under the Tribal Welfare Ministry, would construct 240 multi-purpose depots to create easy access to the tribal people to collect their daily rations. The GCC has decided to construct cost effective buildings in all 11 mandals in the Agency areas as a pilot project with an aim to provide more access to tribals to buy their daily ration and sell their forest produce, he said. UNI