The Hindu Business Line : Uranium plant to come up in Kadapa

Hyderabad, Nov. 19 The foundation stone for the Rs 1,106.25 crore uranium mining and processing plant will be laid by the Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, in Thummalapalle in Kadapa district on Tuesday.

The plant proposed to be set up by the Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL), under the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), will have a capacity of 3,000 tonnes per day and be ready in 36 months.

The Union Minister in the PMO, Mr Prithviraj Chavan and other officials will participate in the meeting, according to an official release from the CMO today.

Only underground mining will be done in the plant site compared to the open cast mining taking place in Jaduguda, Jharkhand, where the uranium mines are located and UCIL has been managing.

Land acquisition

UCIL has acquired 1,122 acres of Government land and 1,118 acres of private land in N. Thummalapalle, Tachakundapalle, KK Kottaland and Mabbuchinthalapalle villages in Pulivendula and paid compensation at the rate of Rs 50,000 per acres for Government and Rs 1.8 lakh per acre for private wet land and rs 1.2 lakh for private dry land.

The Chief Minister allayed fears about the project by environmentalists and others. “The project is coming up in my own constituency. It is near to my home. I am equally or more concerned about it. It will be an underground mine. All the experts of UCIL have assured that there would be no radiation effects around the mine”, Dr Rajasekhara Reddy said in the release.

The CM who was reviewing the industrial investments and progress said during 2007-08, the State attracted 105 new projects securing third place behind Maharastra and Gujarat.

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