Tension prevailed at the public consultation for environment impact assessment of My Home Industries Private Limited’s (MHIPL) proposed limestone mine at Mellacheruvu and Yepalamadhavaram villages in Mellacheruvu mandal, on Tuesday.
There were more than 400 police personnel ensuring bandobust and three-tier entry to participating public. Visibly, the police were thorough in frisking the entrants, and visuals suggested a few protesters were dealt with force. Police sources said only about 15 persons were taken into custody. MHIPL currently has a cement production capacity of 3.90 million tonnes per annum (MTPA). The new plan would excavate 1.036 MTPA limestone from the proposed mining lease of 623 acres in the two villages. The estimated cost cited was ₹ 10 crore, including ₹ 1.74 crore for environment management plan. District Collector T. Vinay Krishna Reddy, the chairman of the consultation, said the exercise lasted for around four hours and 55 persons had expressed their opinion. “Local employment, provision of basic amenities and infrastructure development were the most expressed concerns. This is only an opinion gathering exercise, the same contents will be forwarded to the Ministry,” he said. Local legislator S. Saidi Reddy who participated in the event, said MHIPL should assure 70% of the employment to locals.
