APMDC

The State mining company APMDC, which was on the verge of being closed down completely in the 1990s after mounting losses, has gone through a process of drastically scaling down the number of employees yet finding itself taking part in an increasing number of major deals in recent years. Actual mining operations, however, are limited to only one, a black marble mine in the south AP District of Kadapa. With only 230 employees and strict limits to who can be recruited, the many new mining projects proposed in its name are not indicating actual increased

mining by the company (Interview 9/4 2007, Hyderabad, source with insights into the operations of APMDC). Instead it is the mine planning section of APMDC which has taken on a more important role in recent years. With its close connections to the State Mines & Geology Department including a shared Managing Director, the mine planners are in a prime position to apply for new deposits, allotted on a first come first served basis, when these become available in the State. Once a lease has been secured by APMDC it is usually transferred to a private company for a fee since the organisation lacks the capacity to mine on its own. The transfer procedure including the remuneration to APMDC, and who gets selected is open to political manipulation and has resulted in a number of the biggest political scandals in the State in recent years. As commented by a Hyderabad-based journalist:

APMDC invites for contracts but what we understand is that these are mafia style decisions.

The close links between politicians and the industry and the pricing of ore is strategic (Interview journalist, Hyderabad 25/2 2008).

A different journalist agreed by saying that ‘the government always get the contracts for own players when in power while the opposition protests (Interview journalist, Hyderabad 25/2 2008).’ It seems clear that political priorities have significant influence in how the APMDC conducts its business.

For tribal areas this procedure of allotting mining contracts to private companies can not be followed due to the ban on private industry. Smaller deposits have instead been auctioned with the condition that only tribal people may apply.⁵⁸ But bauxite mining was deemed as being too large a project to allow local people to mine. An authoritative source with insights into the operations of APMDC explained the project setup as follows:

Basically due to the Land Transfer regulations in Andhra Pradesh the government has to do the mining in the state. APMDC is a very small organisation and as a government organisation it is difficult to run it efficiently. There will be political interference and we can not hire competent people because of various rules (Interview source with insights into the operations of APMDC, Hyderabad 9/4 2007).

What emerges from this is APMDC as a rather empty public sector operation mainly existing on paper to supply the private companies like the JSW refinery. Or as one commentator put the question of bauxite mining in the public sector: “Whether public or private, ultimately it is the contractor who will carry out the work” (Interview academic, Visakhapatnam 7/1 2008). Having

58One example of this were the ads for sand mining leases in riverbeds of tribal Visakhapatnam which stated that

circumvented the Samatha Judgement by using the public mining company APMDC as a front, the APMDC-ANRAK mining EIA is confident enough to attain a role separate to that of APMDC in environmental management for what it refers to as the “mining contractor” (Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education 2008, 164-170).⁵⁹ This mining contractor is not defined anywhere in the report but must be assumed to be the company hired to do the actual mining while APMDC retains responsibility to oversee the operations.

JSW will not only fund direct mining activities. Minutes from an APMDC board meeting detail various social activities APMDC plans to carry out in the proposed mining area with direct financial support from Jindal/JSW. There is no mention in the notes of what extent, if at all, JSW will receive any publicity for providing these funds:

[A]bout 200 tribal youth will be trained in the mines of the Corporation [APMDC] at Barytes Mines, Mangampet, Galaxy Granite quarries at Chimakurthy etc. The total expenditure for imparting training to 200 tribal youth for a period of 2 years would be about Rs 2 crore as estimated. Further the Corporation would be providing mobile clinics at an estimated cost of Rs 10 lakhs. The Corporation will also provide the distribution of school uniforms to about 2,000 school children by providing 2 pairs of uniforms, boots, and tie at an estimated cost of Rs 15.00 lakhs. The Corporation will also provide potable water initially for 2 villages i.e.

Bisupuram and Nandivalasa which are near to bauxite deposits in Rakthakonda, Galikonda and Chittamgondi. The Corporation will also undertake public awareness programme by sending the public representatives to Nalco Project at Damanjodi, Orissa and conduct Gram Sabha and other meetings with villagers at a cost of Rs 5.00 lakhs. The total expenditure incurred on the above programmes will be reimbursed by M/s Jindal. The Board authorized the VC&MD [Head of APMDC] to incur expenditure initially for the above programmes and seek reimbursement from M/s Jindal (APMDC 2007, 8).

This mode of operation with a public facade to cover for private mining seems to mirror others across India where State mining corporations continue to take up mining projects while in reality it is only the Gujarat State mining corporation which is able to carry out any mining on its own (Interview retired IAS officer Hyderabad 6/3 2008).

59 The responsibilities of implementing the solid waste management plan is described as follows “Institutional Mechanism shows the role of various Departments/teams in the implementation of the plan. Various Departments involved are:

 Contractor’s monitoring team apart from the workers proposed for the activities

 Forest Department team

 APMDC team (Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education 2008, 208)”