APMDC has no right to issue tender for calcite mining in scheduled space: EAS Sarma

Former secretary to GOI and former Commissioner for Tribal Welfare, A.P. Government, E.A.S. Sarma, has taken sturdy exception to the best way in which the AP Mineral Development Corporation (APMDC) has issued an E-Tender for ‘Working of Calcite Mining Lease’ of 8.725 hectares at Nimmalapadu village in Ananthagiri mandal in Visakhapatnam district, on ‘Raising-cum-sale contract basis’.

In a letter to the Chief Secretary, he said that the APMDC has no right to unilaterally issue such a notification and it was in gross violation of the provisions embedded in the Panchayat (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act (PESA) and the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act (FRA).

Speaking to The Puucho, he mentioned that each the Acts are relevant to the Nimmalapadu village, because it lies inside the notified Scheduled Area of Visakhapatnam district.

According to him, in the Scheduled Areas, as per the provisions of PESA, the query whether or not any mineral must be extracted and, if that’s the case, by whom, must be mentioned first by the native adivasi Gram Sabha.

Such a previous dialogue had not apparently taken place, he alleged. Even beneath the FRA, it’s vital that the person and group rights to the land and the forest sources must be topic to prior dialogue by the native adivasi Gram Sabha, which seems to have been bypassed, he added.

As such, the e-tender discover is patently unlawful and liable to be put aside, he mentioned.

The Samata Judgement and the judgement in the case of bauxite mining by Vedanta in the scheduled space of Odisha, holds good in this case additionally, mentioned Mr. Sarma.

It is learnt {that a} native tribal cooperative has approached the AP High Court to acquire a keep on the e-tender.

A number of years in the past, the identical tribal cooperative had approached the federal government for lease for mining and was denied.