The Hindu Business Line : CPI(M) flays move to set up tribal battalion in Vizag

The details The proposal, which was posted before the Tribal Advisory Committee for approval last week, could not get the nod of the MLAs. The bauxite ore is to be mined by the AP Mineral Development Corporation.

Visakhapatnam , Sept. 5

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has criticised the attempts to set up a tribal battalion in Visakhapatnam district by the police as an attempt to suppress anti-bauxite mining agitation.

The proposal, which was posted before the Tribal Advisory Committee for approval last week, could not get the nod of the MLAs.

"Our party along with others will oppose the move," Mr Ch. Narsinga Rao, the CPI (M) District Secretary, said at a press meet on Tuesday.

He said the Government wanted to pit the battalion against the tribals opposing the Jindals' proposal to set up an alumina smelter at a cost of Rs 9,000 crore in Visakhapatnam.

The bauxite ore is to be mined by the AP Mineral Development Corporation, according to the memorandum of understanding the State Government signed with the Jindals.

He alleged that at present the authorities were also trying to lure the tribals with the promise of jobs as home guards in the battalion.

"Another danger is with regard to seeking applications from the tribals as security guards for the Jindal group. In future, it may turn into a private army," he said.

Threat to ecology

Stating that the Jindal project would trigger an environmental disaster, he said most of the coffee would be destroyed due to toxic materials. He said thousands of tribals were eking out a living on coffee plantations in Araku, Anantagiri and GK Veedhi mandals.

He said the Government had signed the MoU without obtaining the consent of the local communities at village-level meetings. The resettlement and rehabilitation policy was also yet to be specified.

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