Kakatiya Heritage Trust Urges Kishan Reddy to Halt Coal Mine Near Ramappa Temple
A delegation of heritage activists, including representatives from the Kakatiya Heritage Trust, met Union Coal and Mines Minister G. Kishan Reddy in Hyderabad on Saturday to demand the immediate withdrawal of the proposed PVNR opencast coal mine at Venkatapur in Mulugu district. The activists urged the Union Minister to intervene and stop the project, warning that it poses a severe long-term threat to the UNESCO-inscribed Kakatiya Rudreshwara Temple, popularly known as the Ramappa Temple, as well as the adjacent Ramappa Lake.
According to the delegation, the Singareni Collieries Company Ltd. is reportedly preparing to proceed with the project despite strong objections raised by heritage conservationists. To intensify pressure on the government, activists announced plans to mobilise residents across 15 villages and stage mass protests following the Dasara festival.
Highlighting technical assessments, Kakatiya Heritage Trust representative and former National Institute of Technology Warangal professor M. Pandu Ranga Rao explained that the proposed opencast mine is planned roughly 5 kilometres downstream of the temple and lake, requiring excavation to depths of around 300 metres. Citing a Geological Survey of India report, Rao noted that Ramappa Lake's water levels could drive groundwater movement toward the mining site through geological faults and lineaments. The report also flagged the absence of a cut-off trench in the lake, warning that deep downstream excavation could generate a hydraulic gradient and accelerate water seepage.
Rao added that the temple stands on a unique sand-box foundation, which could be destabilised through piping caused by interconnected lineaments linking the waterbody and temple grounds. Although reports have classified the immediate blasting impact as low, the trust warned that continuous, repeated vibrations would have a cumulative damaging effect on the nearly 800-year-old structure. Rao noted that the monument is already exhibiting structural distress, including fractures and differential settlement of floor beams inside the Ranga Mandapam.
The activists also voiced concern over broader threats to local biodiversity, the environment, and the livelihoods of communities dependent on the lake. Social activist and former Warangal mayor T. Rajeshwar Rao stated that organisers plan to visit villages vulnerable to a potential breach of Ramappa Lake to raise awareness, while activist Mandala Parashuramulu called on the public to help safeguard the temple's UNESCO World Heritage status.
