Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly on Monday moves a resolution urging the Center to immediately cancel the tungsten mining rights granted to Hindustan Zinc Ltd in Nayakkarpatti Village, Melur Taluk, Madurai District. The resolution also urged the Centre not to grant any mining license without the permission of the State Governments.

Durai Murugan, Minister for Water Resources, moving the resolution said it is condemnable that despite the concerns raised by the State government on October 3, 2023 to the Centre not to auction the mining rights for such critical and strategic minerals without the permission of the State government, the Centre disregarded this objection and has proceeded with the auction.

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Inspite of pointing out that this area, where tungsten mining rights have been granted, was declared as Bio-Diversity Heritage Site by the State government in 2022 since it includes many historical monuments such as cave temples, Jain symbols, Tamil Brahmi scripts and Panchapandavar beds, and is a habitat for rare species, the Centre granted the rights to carry out mining activities in the area. The people of Tamil Nadu and the Government of Tamil Nadu will never accept this step, the resolution said.

Since this action of the Centre has created a sense of anxiety among the people living in the area that their livelihood will be permanently affected, they are undertaking several protests against this action.

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Considering all these issues and to protect the area and the people living in the area, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu has already urged the the Prime Minister of India to cancel the tungsten mining rights granted to Hindustan Zinc Ltd, the resolution said.

On November 29, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to instruct the Ministry of Mines to cancel the award of tungsten mining rights given to Hindustan Zinc Ltd in Madurai District.

The Union Ministry of Mines declared Hindustan Zinc as the preferred bidder of the Nayakkarpatti Tungsten block (Critical and Strategic Mineral) under Tranche IV on November 7, 2024. The above Tungsten Block comprises Kavattayampatty, Ettimangalam, A Vallalapatty, Arittapatty, Kidaripatty and Narasingampatty villages.

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Commercial mining in densely populated villages will affect the people there. This has caused immense anguish to the people, who fear their livelihood may be lost forever. Hence, Stalin said in the letter that the State government would never allow mining in these areas.

In the letter, Stalin also requested the Prime Minister to instruct the Ministry of Mines to desist from floating any bids for mining without the consent of the concerned State Government.