Unlawful Excavation Alert: Show Cause Notice to Bheemunipatnam Building Society

The Mines and Geology department of Visakhapatnam district issued a show cause notice on Friday to the Bheemunipatnam Mutually Aided Cooperative Building Society, inquiring why the society should not face consequences for unlawfully excavating earth and flattening 278.95 acres of land, which includes the ecologically sensitive Erramatti Dibbalu situated along the Visakhapatnam-Bheemili Beach road. The department requested a response from the housing society within a 15-day period. This notice stemmed from a complaint filed by Jana Sena leader and GVMC corporator P.L.N. Murthy Yadav on July 18, highlighting that the land falls within the environmentally critical Coastal Regulation Zone 1 region. The inspection conducted by the Mines and Geology department focused on survey number 118/5A of Nerellavalasa village in Bheemili mandal, revealing that the society had unlawfully deposited 39,454 cubic meters of gravel stones to construct a road in violation of the Andhra Pradesh Minor Mineral Convention Rules of 1966. Acting on directives from the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO), revenue and GVMC officials, under the leadership of joint collector K. Mayur Ashok, surveyed the Erramatti Dibbalu to assess the damages incurred at this environmentally fragile site. The joint collector instructed the removal of a shed constructed on government land and urged officials to establish monitoring teams to halt any further activities on the premises. Previously, the Bheemunipatnam Mutually Aided Cooperative Building Society had been flattening the land by unloading truckloads of external gravel to facilitate road construction and housing plot development. Concerns raised by environmentalists to Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan regarding the use of heavy machinery for land leveling prompted the society to preemptively relocate all construction equipment and trucks from the site.