CHENNAI: Representatives of villages in Melur block in Madurai district led by BJP state president K Annamalai called on union minister for Coal and Mines G Kishen Reddy on Wednesday and demanded that the tungsten mining proposal should be given up.
After the meeting, Annamalai told reporters the union minister had given his word to the representatives in person but an official announcement about the tungsten mining would be made on Thursday.
He said the representatives from the villages thanked the union minister for suspending the tungsten mining proposal and requested him to stop the mining in the entire area covering 4,981.64 acres.
Later, Annamalai, in his post on X handle, said, “A farmer delegation from Vallalapatti, Aritapatti, Kidaripatti and Narasingampatti in the Melur block of Madurai district met the union minister.”
The union minister listened to the grievances of the farmer delegation patiently and their request for the cancellation of the tender for mining tungsten in Melur block and assured the farmers that a positive, favourable decision in line with the farmers’ expectations of the Melur block will be made and announced.
Union Minister L Murugan and BJP’s senior leader and co-in-charge for Tamil Nadu, Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy were also present during the meeting. Annamalai recalled the Geological Survey of India gave its report on September 14, 2021, about the feasibility of tungsten mining in the Madurai district and the union government wrote to the TN government, but the latter did not even oppose the project.