The Hindu : Few takers among tribals for marble quarrying

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Feb 20, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Andhra Pradesh

Few takers among tribals for marble quarrying

By Our Staff Reporter

KHAMMAM Feb. 19. Just below the surface, there is a mine of opportunity for the tribal youth to thrive on. But those who still look for odd jobs to make both ends meet or hope for a better corn harvest to help their families to see through droughts conditions, can hardly see it. And the administration, which is going all out to help them, is a bit puzzled.

The Department of Mines has issued a notification recently calling applications from the tribals for grant of marble quarry leases. Rich deposits were identified in the pockets of scheduled areas where in the tribals alone are legitimately entitled for exploitation, but the response is rather lukewarm.

Some tribal candidates mistook it for an employment notification and they sent applications to the Department of Mines for jobs in the marble quarries. Some tribal students personally approached the Mining authorities for the same. They were asked to try out their luck in marble mining, but they sounded bit sceptical.

The Department has so far received 35 applications seeking grant of quarry leases. The application would be considered after obtaining necessary reports from the Revenue officers concerned. Since the response received by the Department was not as desired, non-tribal entrepreneurs did not give up their hope.

Some of them had reportedly been trying to get the quarry leases in the name of the tribals loyal to them. The mining authorities said that any non-tribal entering into marble mining by proxy could be dealt with at any stage. The lease also could be cancelled after conducting an enquiry.

They said that the District Collector, Arvind Kumar, would interact with all the tribal applicants next week before granting the quarry leases. Efforts were being made to give the leases to legitimate applicants. A majority of the applicants had been evincing interest in one or two survey numbers in Monditogu village Yellandu mandal.

The tribal youths of the Monditogu village, led by their sarpanch, have already met the Collector and made a representation staking claim for the mining lease. The Collector is keen on considering their request. The Mining Department could find traces of yellow marble in the pocket and the quality of the material available in the village acquired commercial importance.

The volume of deposit in Monditogu strike is expected to be over 40,00,000 cubic metres. Similarly in Jastupalli and Utukoor villages, another 16,00,000 cubic metres of marble is be available. The worth of marble deposits available in both Yellandu and Kamepalli could be worth over Rs. 100 crores, said the Mining officials.

Marble quarrying was stopped for eight years in the district because of the restrictions imposed on the non-tribals engaged in it under the scheduled area Regulation 1/ 70. Since the mining activity involved deployment of machinery and financial investments, the tribal entrepreneurs could not make any headway in the activity in the absence of support from the agencies concerned.

The Mining Department is exploring the scope for joint ventures both for mining and processing marble in the tribal areas. The marble industry is expected to get the much needed support if there is scope for involving association of members, partnership firms, private and public undertakings on condition of retaining 51 per cent share holding with the tribals, they added.

The administration has chalked out a plan for encouraging the tribals and the tribal cooperative societies by extending necessary assistance in mining, processing and marketing. A mini-industrial estate has been planned exclusively to promote marble processing. The processing units are expected to create employment for over 20,000 workers. Once they come up, jobs for tribal youths may not be a problem.

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