After AP government's nod, Anrak Alumina set to commission refinery at Rachapalli

Addressing a press conference here, Rajya Sabha member and YSRCP in-charge for north Andhra affairs V Vijaysai Reddy said the government has been planning to allow Anrak Aluminium Ltd to commission their plant since it has invested over Rs 5,000 crore and promised jobs to the local youth.

"But we will not allow mining of Bauxite in the Visakhapatnam agency. The company has to import from outside or source it from Odisha. YSRCP has assured the Adivasis that mining of Bauxite has been stopped for good," Vijaysai Reddy said.

Paderu MLA K Bhagyalakshmi said the Adivasis will not have any objection if the plant operates in the non-tribal area far from the agency tracts. "As long as they do not mine in the agency, we have no objection," he said.

However, district secretary of CPM K Lokanadham urged the state government to do away with G.O. 89 on bauxite mining. He demanded the dissolution of a six-member committee constituted to decide about bauxite mining in the district.

He said the committee was formed to suggest options for facilitating the supply of bauxite ore to the ANRAK refinery project and to chalk out possibilities of operating the ANRAK Refinery Project.

Lokanadham said any move to carry out bauxite mining will be resisted as it will affect the environment in the agency area. He said bowing to agitations earlier the then government had decided against the mining. The YSRCP government after coming to power canceled the GO 97, but it was now trying to restart mining to benefit ANRAK Company, he alleged.