Three months after Union Tribal Affairs Minister V. Kishore Chandra Deo wrote to Andhra Pradesh Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan, urging him to exercise his constitutional powers to cancel the permission given for bauxite mining in Visakhapatnam as it was fuelling left- wing extremism there, the latter has finally responded. He has referred the matter to the State government which, had, in the first place, signed MoUs with several companies to permit bauxite mining.
Commenting on Mr. Narasimhan’s letter, Mr. Deo told The Hindu: “The Governor just has to verify the facts and take action. I don’t know why he has referred the matter to the State government.”
In his 14-page letter, dated April 7, Mr. Deo pointed out that ever since the State government signed a series of MoUs (between 2005 and 2010) with several companies “neither owned nor controlled by people belonging to Scheduled Tribes,” and then went on to recommend 13 more applications in favour of the A.P. Mining Development Corporation “for prior approval of mining leases,” Maoists have begun to gain ground in Visakhapatnam district “by gaining the sympathy of the locals only due to the threat of bauxite mining.”
Meets PM, Sonia
Mr. Deo, who is familiar with Visakhapatnam as it is one of the four districts that falls in his Araku parliamentary constituency, had met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi to explain the situation before he called on Mr. Narasimhan to hand over his letter. Copies of his letter were then sent to Dr. Singh, Ms. Gandhi and the Union Ministers for Home, Law and Environment for information.
The MoUs signed with various companies as well as the clearing of the APMDC’s applications by the then government led by Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, Mr. Deo writes, “betray our commitment for the cause of people who belong to the Scheduled Tribe community… [and] amount to a flagrant violation and affront of our constitutional provisions.”
In the letter, Mr. Deo says Governors are empowered by the Constitution to make regulations for peace and good governance, including those relating to Land Alienation and Transfer Allotment of Land in Schedule V areas (designated tribal areas in the mainland, just as Schedule VI refers to tribal areas in the northeast). For this purpose, the Governor can repeal or amend any Central or State law or any existing law applicable to such an area. Further, the Governor is not bound by the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers in performance of functions under Schedule V.
The impugned orders of the late Chief Minister, Mr. Deo adds, also negate the purpose for which the Forest Rights Act and the Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas Act were enacted. If the first promised to give tribals and forest dwellers rights over the land they live on, the PESA gave the people control over their own resources, with the gram sabhas approving plans related to a host of issues connected with land, including recommending prospecting licences and mining leases for minor minerals.
Bauxite mining in Visakhapatnam, Mr. Deo says, will also destroy the sources of the three rivers which originate in this region — the Gosthani, the Champavathi and the Sarada — and which are the main sources of irrigation and drinking water in Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam districts.
