Investments worth Rs 100 crore in silica sand mining and beneficiation in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh are in jeopardy due to the state government’s insistence on acquiring the mineral-bearing land for developing a Special Economic Zone (SEZ), protests the Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (Fimi).
The Institute of Indian Foundrymen wrote to the Union mining ministry early this month, urging its intervention. There is no alternative area nearby for mining of silica sand and the mining operations cannot be relocated, it protested. Fimi likewise petitioned the ministry last month. Spread over 1,200 hectares of eight villages of Chillakur mandal and two villages of Kota mandal in Gudur division, nearly 100 small mining companies will have to surrender their land holdings to the state government. This will not only bury the entire 50 million tonnes of silica deposits in the region but also make its availability scarce, affecting hundreds of foundry units in the area, said S B S Chouhan, advisor to Fimi.
Silica sand is the major raw material used by foundries for making moulds to pour molten metal to cast the intricate metal components for use in practically all industrial sectors.
“An SEZ can be shifted elsewhere. Once construction takes place on this land, minerals will be buried underground, which makes no sense. Excavation in about a dozen of mines here should be allowed. Once the minerals exhaust in these mines, the government can go ahead with the SEZ,” said Chouhan.
Silica miners, processors, traders and suppliers to foundries directly employ 500,000 people and another 1.5 million indirectly, mostly from poorer sections, he claimed.
The leaseholders had earlier approached the local court after revenue authorities issued notices to them in April 2008 to allot the land to the proposed SEZ. The court had ordered a stay on land acquisition. Earlier, in February 2002, the industries and commerce department had asked the mines and geology department not to allot lands having mineral wealth for any purpose other than mining.
The same department, however, revoked its order in April 2007 and asked the mines wing to stop renewing or granting leases and get the existing ones cancelled.