Uranium mining in Andhra kicks up row

The proposed mining of uranium deposits in a remote village in Nalgonda district of Andhra Pradesh is snowballing into a major row as environmentalists have rejected claims of Uranium Corporation of India Limited UCIL officials that the activity is risk-free.

Ever since UCIL began efforts to mine uranium deposits at Lambapur-Peddagutta, which would continue for the next 20 years, environment activists launched a movement against it saying mining would pose a health hazard to local people.

Their apprehensions were broadly based on the deformities noticed among people near Jaduguda in Jharkhand where UCIL had taken up mining about a decade ago. Many newborns lost vital organs in Jadugoda, environmentalists allege. A battery of UCILtop brass came here on Monday and explained that all precautions would be taken. They cited the health impact studies carried out by BARC, Mumbai, on people of Jaduguda.