A 17-member committee was appointed by Congress on Friday headed by its senior leader V Hanumantha Rao, carrying out an agitation against the proposed Uranium exploration in Nallamala forest. The convener of the committee will be  Nagarkurnool District Congress unit President, Vamsi Krishna.

This is against the Atomic Mineral's Directorate (AMD)'s proposed uranium exploration in Amrabad Tiger Reserve in Nallamala forest.

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Approval for the Uranium exploration

The State Government has given AMD the permission to drill 4,000 boreholes as part of the survey and exploration of uranium over 83 sq km in the Tiger Reserve. The principle approval for the uranium exploration was given by The Forest Advisory Committee under the Ministry of Environment and Forest and Climate Change in May this year.

The Telangana Jana Samithi founder and President M Kodandaram and Janasena Party Chief Pawan Kalyan among others have also opposed the proposed exploration. Vamsi Chand Reddy said-

'Besides disturbing the environment and wildlife of Amrabad Tiger Reserve, the uranium explorationmay cause displacement of Chenchus the aboriginal people ofthe Nallamala forest'. 

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Pawan Kalyan backs the Congress leader

Actor turned politician and the President of Jana Sena Party (JSP) Pawan Kalyan also backed the senior Congress leader V Hanumantha Rao in expressing his concern over Centre’s plan to mine uranium in Telangana's Nallamala forest.Kalyan in a recent statement said that this will hugely damage the bio-diversity.

"Underground uranium mines may have high concentrations of radon. People who inhale this may be affected with lung cancer and kidney issues may arise when people drink water with uranium waste," he added.

He further said that animals will face a threat to their lives and the lives of the Chenchu tribe would become even worse as no crop can be grown after the mining of uranium. Adding to this, V Hanumantha Rao said uranium mining was an issue concerning both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh because effluents generated from uranium processing could join the Krishna river nearby, which both states depend on.

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(With Inputs from PTI)