Senior officers from the departments of forest, revenue, mines and geology and survey and land records conducted a joint survey at Somalamma Hill in Ravikamatham mandal to ascertain whether mining activity was taken up by Stone Plus company in pockets that fall under the reserve forest.
The Somalamma hill was notified as a reserve forest in 1982 and was named as ‘Cheemalapadu forest block’.
The Somalamma hill is part of a catchment area of the Kalayanapulova reservoir, which was built in 1978.
In 2016, granite mining leases were granted on this hill and since 2017, farmers and tribals from catchment area have been demanding stoppage of mining activity.
Tribals from surrounding villages participated in the inspection and submitted a petition to the Sub-Collector. Representatives from the mining company Stone Plus were also present.
P.S. Ajay Kumar, national secretary, All India Agricultural and Rural Labours Association (AIARLA) submitted a report on mining in the dam’s catchment area. He also explained to officials how the reserve forest area was allocated under the pretext of the ‘gap area’.
The joint survey was conducted based on directions from the Andhra Pradesh High Court and a report will be shortly submitted to the court.
