Official announcement on cancellation of tungsten block in Madurai on January 23: Annamalai

BJP State president Annamalai leads farmers delegation to meet Union Minister for Coal and Mines on tungsten block issue.

BJP State president K Annamalai on Wednesday led a farmers delegation from Vallalapatti, Aritapatti, Kidaripatti & Narasingampatti in the Melur block of Madurai District and met Union Minister for Coal and Mines G Kishan Reddy in New Delhi on the tungsten block issue.

After the meeting, Annamalai told reporters that the Centre would make an official announcement on cancellation of the block on Thursday. Union Minister of State in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting & Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs L Murugan and other senior leaders from BJP Tamil Nadu accompanied the delegation.

Mr. Reddy listened to the grievances of the farmer delegation patiently and their request for the cancellation of the tender for mining Tungsten in Melur block, Annamalai said in a social media post. The Minister also assured that a positive, favourable decision in line with the farmers expectations of the Melur block will be made and announced, he said.

In December, Union Ministry of Mines requested the Geological Survey of India (GSI) to re-examine the Nayakkarpatti tungsten block in Madurai and requested the Tamil Nadu government to keep the process of issuing the Letter of Intent to the preferred bidder – Hindustan Zinc Limited – on hold for the time being.

The delegation thanked the Minister for putting the project on hold and sought for cancellation of the tender, Annamalai said.