Reacting to a sustained agitation taken up by tribal people against the alleged illegal transportation of granite blocks by Stone Plus company in Cheemalapadu under notified reserve forest block in the catchment area of the Kalyanalova reservoir in Visakhapatnam district, the Forest Department registered cases under relevant sections of the Forest Act against the mining company, here on Tuesday. The cases were filed in the Chodavaram Forest Range office.
The adivasis have been opposing the attempted transportation, allegedly without requisite permits, of 195 granite blocks quarried by Stone Plus from Compartment 800 in the Cheemalapadu Reserve Forest and which were seized by the Forest Department on May 1.
About five heavy trailers each containing about three granite blocks, heavy machinery and equipment were seized by the department and kept at Dandapudi forest check-post.
The Divisional Forest Officer had, in a letter on March 16 to the Director, Mines and Geology, urged “to cancel the mining lease granted erroneously in favour of Stone Plus since the lease area falls in the notified forest block.”
Earlier, on February 28, the DFO had also addressed a letter to the Assistant Director, Mines & Geology, asking that no transit permit be issued without clearance from the Forest Department.
According to P.S. Ajay Kumar, national secretary of the All India Agricultural and Rural Labour Association, based on these, the tribals had objected to the transportation of the granite blocks, which according to them were being done illegally.
