KADAPA: People from villages in proximity to Uranium Mines and Uranium Processing plant in Kadapa district confronted the members of expert committee constituted by Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board (APPCB) to study the impact of the alleged pollution from the uranium project, with their problems including health ailments and uncertain future, when they visited the villages to interact with the people on Tuesday.
It was not just at Tummalapalle, Mabbuchintalapalle, KK Kottala and Kannampalle, but every village in Vemula Mandal of the district have a woeful tale to tell the expert committee. Explaining their sufferings due to the impact of harmful effluents from the uranium processing plant, the villagers demanded to know when they are going to be relocated and rehabilitated.
They urged the experts not to come under pressure, but explain the great harm being done to the environment and public health in the region due to the project. It is not just that the cultivated crops are withering away, but even the people are suffering from skin ailments and reproductive-related problems.
Human Rights Forum vice-president K Jayasri, who led the villagers in explaining the problems they were suffering from, said the project has remained an ever-present danger to their lives. It is not just dried-up borewells and polluted groundwater, what is worrying is the deteriorating health conditions of the villagers.
The villagers accused the UCIL of treating the tailings pond not like a waste disposal unit of harmful substances with safety measures in place. They said their pleas were ignored by the UCIL, which has not done any study, though it was asked to do so by the pollution control authorities.