The Human Rights Forum demands that all permissions be accorded for mining quartzite near the villages of Dalaivalasa, Gottivalasa, and Vuddavolu in Garugubilli Mandal of Vizianagaram district be cancelled immediately. If the mining is allowed, it will cause immense injury to the health of hundreds of families residing in the area as well as devastate water bodies, farming, and dairy. Quartzite mining undertaken for over ten years in the region has already wreaked immense havoc.

A four-member HRF team visited the area on Monday and spoke with residents of these villages. We were shocked to see the destruction due to relentless mining for quartzite close to houses. This is in open violation of the Supreme Court order of December 12, 2003, in Civil Appeals No. 1907-1914 of 2000, which states that mining cannot be permitted within 2 km of any habitation. The AP Pollution Control Board (APPCB) guidelines state that the distance between the boundary of the mining site and human habitation, educational institutions, and religious places should not be less than 500 meters. The distance between the quartzite mine and Dalaivalasa village is a mere 180 meters! 

Mining has only impoverished an otherwise vibrant farmer community in the area. Streams emanate from the mine area hill and feed the enormous Konkamaani tank adjacent to Dalaivalasa village. Inflows into this cheruvu, which has an ayacut of nearly a thousand acres, will invariably deplete. The mining hill is also grazing land for many cattle from Dalaivalasa, Sivarampuram, Ullibhadra and Vudddavolu villages, particularly in August-December. They are in danger of being deprived of this precious resource.

Because of the nature of quartzite mining, the local people have had to put up with intermittent blasting and continuous dust taking its toll on human health, contaminating drinking water sources in the area and negatively impacting agriculture. ‘When mining goes on, we mostly stay indoors’, we were told not just by the people of Vuiddavolu and Dalaivalasa but also of Gollavanivalasa, a village near the Garugubilli-Parvathipuram road. Entry of quartz particles into the human body through inhalation, water, and other ways, is known to cause cancer and several life-threatening diseases.

Presently, there are three fresh mining leases in the villages of Dalaivalasa, Gottivalasa and Vuddavolu, with the proponents seeking Environmental Clearance, for which a public hearing is to be held on March 9, 2022. The combined production capacity of the quartzite is a mind-boggling 701984 metric tonnes per annum (MTPA). 

Authorities concerned are Constitutionally obligated to stop this brazen criminality. HRF demands that all attempts to mine quartzite in the area be immediately stopped and existing licenses are revoked. A comprehensive investigation must be carried out to identify and prosecute all those who did not enforce requisite regulations and facilitate these illegalities.