Reports reveal that people exposed to waste from tungsten mining suffer from deadly diseases, says Madurai MP

“Existing reports from Belgium and China reveal that people exposed to waste from tungsten mining suffer from deadly diseases like cancer and cardiac arrest,” said Madurai MP Su. Venkatesan.

Speaking against the tungsten mining project during the protest organised by Communist Party of India (Marxist) at Melur here on Sunday, Mr. Venkatesan added, “The Centre to deliberately deceive people avoided using the name Melur or Madurai or Arittapatti, instead they named only Nayakkarpatti during the announcement granting tungsten mining rights to Hindustan Zinc Ltd.”

“To avoid instant outrage, the Union government constantly avoided using sensitive and familiar names knowing the opposition against such mining projects in the past,” he noted  

“When any of the places are seen on the documents, they know that people will agitate and stop the project from proceeding further. But to their surprise, people immediately took note of the awaiting danger and jumped into protest,” he added.  

Though the State government has passed a resolution against the mining, which was welcoming, people should unite to stand against the project until the Union government announces that it had dropped the project, he informed.  

Mr. Venkatesan, said, when he went to request Union Minister for Mines G. Kishan Reddy to stop the project, he was not given an appointment to meet the Minister.  

“Since I was not there for any personal benefit or favour, I decided to stay there till the Minister allowed me in. After 2.5 hours, the Minister finally met me and listened to the demands I had listed for his perusal,” he added.  

It was only after that, the Ministry displayed it true face by replying to Chief Minister M. K. Stalin’s letter on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), that it had not included the protected area and also accused the State government for not showing its opposition earlier, he added.  

Even after several deliberations, letters and protests, the Union government has still not uttered a word assuring that the mining project would be called off, he said.  

“It is surprising how the Union government still believes that the people will allow a company like Vedanta, which destroyed our livelihood in Thoothukudi, to plunder our natural resources once again,” Mr. Venkatesan added.  

“They are still deceiving people that they will not destroy the protected areas of Arittapatti, but the reality will be different when they start mining underneath the earth”, he said.

 “The Union government claims that tungsten is an important mineral required for various purposes, but if it is true, why did they not realise this in the 75 years of Independence. The need is not for the country but for the Vedanta company,” he alleged.

More than 500 people had gathered to join the protest against the mining project.  

Published - December 15, 2024 05:02 pm IST