BJP Tamil Nadu president K. Annamalai on Wednesday, July 31, 2024 welcomed the Union government’s decision to temporarily suspend auctioning graphite-rich mineral quarries at Kurinjakkulam in Tenkasi district.
In a post on X, Mr. Annamalai said the Union government had called for auctioning mineral quarries to extract graphite and some other minerals at Kurinjakkulam and its surrounding areas in Tenkasi district. It is learnt that the Tamil Nadu government had also accorded approval for extracting minerals around Kurinjakkulam belt, he said. However, the decision to extract minerals was met with stiff opposition from farmers and residents of Kurinjakkulam.
He said the Tamil Nadu BJP had submitted a plea to the Union government to withdraw its decision of extracting minerals from Kurinjakkulam and surrounding areas. A similar plea was also submitted recently by senior advocate K.S. Radhakrishnan to Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Following this, the Union government had temporarily suspended auctioning of mineral quarries Kurinjakkulam and its surrounding areas, he said and hoped that the area would be permanently removed from the list while recalling auction for quarrying minerals.
