widespread resistance to a new uranium mine and processing plant in his long-time Pulivendula assembly constituency in Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh has come as a shock to chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy. People from his pocket borough have dug in against his pet project: a 26.79-million tonne uranium mining project in Tummalapalle village. Particularly at issue are the strong-arm measures employed to ram it down the throats of the people.

A public hearing conducted by the Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board (appcb) for environmental clearance at the 300-household village, Tummalapalle, on September 10 turned out to be a farce: hundreds of people from the four affected villages who opposed the project were chased away from the venue. Rapid Action Force personnel were deployed in force since the morning along all routes leading to the venue to scare away protestors.

Instead, hundreds of people from faraway villages, and students, were brought in by the chief minister's younger brother and Kadapa Lok Sabha member Y S Vivekananda Reddy to drum up support. Several people told Down To Earth that students of mining technology from private polytechnic colleges in Pulivendula and Proddutur, who were promised jobs, were brought to the public hearing.
Strong opposition The Uranium Corporation of India Limited (ucil) will mine uranium in four villages