Talks with locals fail, mining unit shut down

SRIKAKULAM: A unit of Trimex Sands Private Limited (TSPL) at Vatsavalasa was shut down on Tuesday after villagers stopped sand transportation to it following failure of talks between TSPL and Vatsavalasa and Mogadarupadu panchayats of Gara mandal. The locals’ demanded manual mining instead of mechanised mining.As long as the locals, who had come with a 20-point proposal, keep disrupting sand transportation, the unit would remain closed, said TSPL liaison officer NL Rao.Rao said since the locals could not mine 350 tonnes per hour through manual process, the company was willing to take up manual mining in addition to the mechanised mining to provide employment to locals.  But their demand of only manual mining was not viable for the company, he added.Among their other demands was setting up of a five-member committee, appointed by two panchayats, which would have a role in recruitment and outsourcing of workers of TSPL.