Tribal affairs and panchayati raj minister V. Kishore Chandra Deo blames increased Maoist activity to the proliferation of mining leases being granted by the state governments of Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh.
“The tribal population is feeling increasingly threatened and regard the Maoists as their protectors. In my own constituency of Araku in Andhra Pradesh, there has been an upsurge of killings by the extremists to any one seen to have close links with the bauxite mining lobbies and their agents,” said Mr Deo, talking exclusively to this newspaper.
Mr Deo has taken the unprecedented step of writing to AP governor E.S.L. Narasimhan asking him to cancel the mining licences granted to AnRaK, a West Asia-based company, because the bureaucrats who lent their signatures on this deal are languishing in jail thanks to their involvement in the infamous Obulapuram illegal mining scam.
Mr Deo has zeroed in the Vishakapatnam district, where between 2005-10, the state government signed MOUs with several companies which are neither owned nor controlled by Schedule Tribes as is the rule in Schedule 5 areas, said the minister.
Another 13 applications were granted in favour of the AP Mining Development Corporation even though the state government is aware that bauxite ore will destroy the rivers Gosthani, Champavathi and Sarada which originate in the Vishakapatnam district, the minister said.
“The situation is even worse in Orissa where over 600 leases have been granted. Fearing eviction, the tribals living around the Niyamgiri hills are feeling extremely threatened. They have made so many representations to the state and Central governments which continue to go unheard,” Mr Deo claimed.