Keeping in view the concerns and fears of local people, Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has ordered to stop the process of drilling holes for uranium availability and research in Kappatralla of Kurnool district, thus putting an end to uranium extractions.
The Chief Minister has instructed the district authorities not to continue any further process on this issue. District Collector P. Ranjith Basha has announced that the people should not panic in the wake of the protests by the people in Kappatralla for the past few days.
A large-scale agitation is being expressed by the people protesting the availability of uranium and drilling holes for research in Kappatralla Reserve Forest. Farmers are protesting that the entire area will be destroyed due to uranium mining and that the crop fields will be turned into wastelands.
In the wake of public concerns, the state government has backed down on the uranium extraction project. Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has issued orders to the authorities to stop the drilling holes immediately.
The Collector stated that as per the Chief Minister’s orders, no further process will be carried out regarding the mining of uranium boreholes in the Kappatralla Reserve Forest. The Collector assured the people that there is no need to panic or worry.
The Uranium Corporation has identified that Kappatralla has the highest quality uranium deposits in the country. With this, it is determined to extract uranium in Kappatralla. Uranium deposits have been identified in 468.25 hectares of forest land.
Arrangements are being made to drill 70 boreholes to collect samples in 6.8 hectares of this. Permissions have already been granted for some boreholes. In this process, the local people are blocking the mining. The people of 13 villages in the Kappatralla Reserve Forest are strongly opposing it.
It is estimated that it will have an impact within a radius of 50 kilometers around Kappatralla. The fear that the villages in the surrounding areas of Kappatralla will have to be evacuated is haunting the locals. This has caused widespread public concern.