Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], June 1 (ANI): Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MP Kanimozhi on Wednesday strongly criticised the TVK government, accusing it of a "massive betrayal" of people in the southern districts over its handling of a proposed atomic mineral mining project in Kanyakumari.
In an X post, the DMK MP said, "The decision of the TVK government to issue a government order extending the land allocation for setting up an atomic mineral mine in Kanyakumari by one year--on the very day it was set to expire--is unacceptable."
She pointed out what she called a "dual stance", suggesting a contradiction in TVK's position, adding, "After passing a resolution in their own party's executive committee meeting demanding the scrapping of the atomic mineral mining project, the TVK government's dual stance in now facilitating clearances for this highly environmentally hazardous project of the Union Government is a massive betrayal of the people of the southern districts."
The project traces back to June 11, 2021, when the Union Ministry of Mines approved reserving 1,144 hectares of land in Kanyakumari's Killiyoor Taluk for IREL (Indian Rare Earths Limited), a central public sector undertaking, to mine atomic minerals.
Under Section 17 of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, this reservation gave IREL five years to sign a mining lease with the state government, but before that could happen, the company first needed environmental clearance and Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) clearance for the project.
With the original five-year window for signing the mining lease set to expire on June 10, 2026, IREL wrote to the Tamil Nadu government in January of this year, asking for a one-year extension.
In the letter, the Chief General Manager, IREL (India) Limited had informed the status of pending grant of Environment Clearance (EC) and other statutory clearance, and he has observed that the validity of the reservation was to lapse on June 10, as per Section 17A(4) of MMDR Act, 1957. IREL requested an extension of the validity of the reservation for a further period of one year, till (June 10, 2027).
The extension was eventually issued on June 10. (ANI)
