Visakhapatnam district collector Mr. J. Syamala Rao said today that all permissions given to the mining companies for mining china-clay in the Visakha agency area have been kept in abeyance.

The District Collector said that action will be initiated against the concerned officials who have given NOCs (No objection certificates) to the mining companies.

The decision has been taken in the wake of stiff opposition from the agency people who have been agitating for the last few days demanding withdrawal of permissions given to the mining companies for mining of china clay in the agency area.

Recently, the tribal people had driven away an MLA and an MPP member for conducing a meeting on opinion gathering on mining of china clay in their area.