Abundant gravel deposits located in the Devarapalem area of Nellore district are found to have faced excess exploitation forcing the authorities to book cases and conduct fresh surveys on the extent of leases given to the mining contractors.
In the surveys already conducted in the past, it was found that the lease was given for mining of just 16,000 cubic feet but the lease holders had taken away an excess of nearly 65,000 cubic feet.
This indiscriminate mining had left deep pits in the vicinity of Devarapalem village near the famous Narasimhakonda temple. Consequently, local people and farmers faced problems of land erosion in the surroundings. The issue came to the fore with the cutting of teak and other trees belonging to the Narasimhakonda temple creating a sensation in the district leading to filing of cases against some persons of Devarapalem village.
As the same persons were involved in the excess gravel mining issue, the Nellore rural police filed cases based on the complaints given by the mines and geology officials quoting the past and present exploitation of the mineral resource in an extent of 12 acres in Devarapalem. After finding irregularities in the 2013 survey, the officials issued notices to the lease holders for payment of penalty up to Rs. 10.80 lakh but they did not oblige the same till now. As per this survey, 49,000 cubic feet of gravel was found to have been mined in excess of the permission given to the lease holder.
When the issue was taken to the notice of District Collector M. Janaki, she instructed the officials of the mines and geology department to take action against the persons concerned.
Gravel has been in good demand in recent years with its deposits being used in road-laying, construction sector, concrete making, glass manufacturing industry and so on.
