Tribals of several villages have opposed china clay mining in Kadu hill in Koraput district claiming that that the activity will leave the water sources dry and also affect their lives.
"People living in 10 villages will lose their livelihood if mining takes place in Kadu hill. The hill has a number of water sources and villagers depend on these to eke out a living. Mining activities will not only leave the water sources dry, but also hit the lives of tribals hard," said Gobardhan Jani, President of the 'Chitua Mati Dongor Surakhya Samiti' under which banner the tribals are agitating.
"Recently, mining has started in the hill and we have opposed it. We'll step up our agitation if the government does not care to understand our concerns and problems," he said.
The villagers have submitted a memorandum to the district administration for necessary action in this regard.
Officials at deputy director of mines office in Koraput said an Andhra-based company had obtained lease to mine china clay from Kadu hill spread to Mali Khuduni, Hata Suku, Paraja Khuduki, Kumar Gandhana, Hingerput and Lengi Suku, in 2006.
"The demands of the villagers will be looked into and necessary action will be taken," said Koraput District Collector Sachin Jadhav.
The district unit of BJD's youth wing has also opposed the mining.
