The Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration and Research (AMD), Hyderabad, gets a bigger applause in protecting the interest of tigers and a tribal population against a mega Uranium mining project.
In a recent episode, the AMD that falls under the Department of Atomic Energy decided to shelve the ambitious Uranium Mining project in the Amrabad Tiger Reserve in Telangana. After coming across much protest from the locals, environmentalists, nature lovers, political leaders and even the Telangana government, the AMD finally decided not to drill any holes to collect the yellow cake, which is a form of Uranium ore.
mining threat to tigers and Chenchu tribals
It was in 2019 that an expert panel on forests of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change gave in-principle approval for the proposal of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) for Uranium mining over 83 square kilometres in the tiger reserve.
protests led to scrapping of the Mining project
However, the Telangana government and the State Wildlife Board had rejected the project for the last two years under strong opposition.
The people who opposed the Uranium project said that the mining was a threat to the tigers and will cause destruction to the habitation where the Chenchu tribals reside.
Amrabad reserve
The Amrabad tiger reserve was originally part of the Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve, which is one of the largest tiger reserves, near to Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh. The Amrabad reserve falls in Telangana state and is sixth largest tiger reserve in the country. It lies in Nallamala hills of Telangana and has a large presence of the Chenchu tribe.
The Amrabad tiger reserve forest harbours great biodiversity, consisting of around 70 species of mammals, more than 300 hundred avian varieties, 60 species of reptiles and thousands of insects, all supported and nourished by more than 600 different plant species.
