VIJAYAWADA: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has written a formal letter to Union Coal and Mines Minister G. Kishan Reddy, requesting urgent regulatory relief for hundreds of mining lease applicants.
The appeals of these local entrepreneurs have been abruptly stalled following the Central government's decision to revise its classification guidelines for laterite deposits.
The controversy stems from the Centre's structural decision to reclassify laterite containing 20% or more aluminium content as bauxite, transforming it from a minor mineral into a major mineral category.
This unexpected policy pivot forced the Andhra Pradesh state government to temporarily freeze 402 pending mining lease applications that were originally processed under the minor mineral framework.
The affected group includes 19 applicants who had already secured formal Letters of Intent, 113 involving government land, 255 on forest land, and 15 located on private patta land.