The Congress in Telangana demanded on Friday that the state government "cancel" the permission reportedly given for extraction of Uranium in Nallamala forest region in the state.
However, state Forest Minister A Indrakaran Reddy said the government has not granted any permission for mining Uranium.
"... We are only seeing it (about permission) in papers," he said.
In an open letter to Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, state Congress president N Uttam Kumar Reddy claimed to have information that the state government has given permission for extracting Uranium reserves in the Nallamala forest region.
He also stated there was information that the Environment Ministry has permitted extraction of Uranium in the Amrabad region in Nagar Kurnool district and Lambapur region in Nagarjunasagar.
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Comprehensive project surveys on the matter have also been completed, he claimed.
The extraction would lead to pollution of environment and displacement of 'Chenchus' (inhabitants of the forest), he said demanding that the permission be cancelled.
Earlier, a panel under the Ministry of Forest and Environment had recommended for "in-principle" permission for exploration of Uranium in Amrabad Tiger Reserve in Telangana.
The Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) under the Ministry of Forest, Environment and Climate Change made the recommendation at its meeting on May 22.
The Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration and Research (AMD) had sought permission from the Ministry of Forest to carry out survey and drilling of boreholes around Amrabad-Udimalla (Mahaboobnagar district)-Narayanpur (Nalgonda district), with the aim to establish Uranium deposits.
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