Fresh demands have been raised for a resolution to be passed in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly by the N Chandrababu Naidu-led state government, stating in explicit and unambiguous terms that there will be no attempt to survey or explore uranium deposits in the Kappatralla Reserve Forest in Kurnool district.
The Centre’s push for Nuclear Energy, particularly involving private investments has led to apprehensions among locals and activists that despite the assurance given by the state government attempts might be made to revive exploration and mining in Kappatralla. The Union government has launched the Nuclear Energy Mission and allocated Rs 20,000 crore towards this initiative in the Budget 2025-26.
After a 13-member team of the Human Rights Forum (HRF) team visited Kappatralla, Nellibanda, and P Kotakonda in Devanakonda Mandal on 2 February, the organization issued a statement which stated, “We believe the recent assurance given by the state government, in the face of sustained local protests against exploration for uranium, – ‘not to take any further action on the processing of the proposal until further orders from the government,’ – is only a transient measure. Ominously, there remains the danger of potential exploration and subsequent mining for uranium in the area.”
The team interacted with the locals who had strongly objected to uranium mining last year, and their sustained protests had forced the state government to declare there would be no exploration.
“The local people are of the strong opinion that any mining for uranium will cause grave injury to their health and destroy farming, which is their livelihood,” read the statement. It further stated that any exploration and mining in Kappatralla would have a hazardous impact on local hydrology and destroy its key water resources affecting nearly 25 villages.
The HRF cited Jaduguda in Jharkhand and Tummalapalle unit of Uranium Corporation of India Limited to warn about the devastation wreaked by Uranium mining and processing of ore on the flora and fauna and human lives.
Kappatralla Reserve Forest is home to foxes, wild boars, porcupines, star turtles, and peacocks, and uranium mining would lead to the loss of their habitat. The apprehension among locals stems from the absolute secrecy surrounding the exploration of uranium by digging borewells and the possibility of finding higher-grade uranium as mentioned in scientific papers published in 2019.
“With the Union government pushing for nuclear energy it is unlikely that Kappatralla will be spared, hence there is a need to get a clear assurance from the state government in the form of an Assembly resolution there will be no further exploration or mining for uranium in Kappatralla,” said a local community leader.