Heritage conservationists in Telangana are apprehensive about an impending threat to Ramappa temple, a 13th century monument and the only UNESCO World Heritage Site in the state located at Palampet village in Mulug district, from the proposed deep opencast coal mining project by state-owned Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL).
“Even ASI and other heritage activists also opposed the move. Kakatiya Heritage Trust, which played a key role in getting the UNESCO recognition to the temple had opposed the grant of a No Objection Certificate by the Palampet Special Development Authority (PSDA) twice – in March 2023 and December 2024. As long as the sand is confined in the box, the foundation is able to take the load of the superstructure which sustained the monument for more than 800 years.
A senior official of Singareni Collieries, who did not want to be named, said there was no threat whatsoever to Ramappa temple complex due to open cast mining, as it falls well outside the buffer zone. The report, however, said there would definitely be impact of blasting on the Ramappa Temple in the long run due to periodic and cyclical vibrations, considering the fatigue.
“The company is planning to deploy heavy machinery in this open cast mining to a depth of 300 metres, which is likely to cause tremors in the soil threatening to destabilise the heritage monument,” heritage conservationist M Panduranga Rao, a member of Kakatiya Heritage Trust, said. “The sand-filled base, compacted to optimal density, has historically absorbed seismic shocks, helping the temple endure earthquakes and the passage of more than eight centuries,” Rao said. But now, the Singareni authorities have revived the proposal to take up coal mining at Venkatapur,” Rao said. In a report titled “Impact of Opencast Mining of Singareni Collieries on UNESCO Inscribed Ramappa Temple & the Great Heritage of Ramappa Lake,” submitted to the Union coal ministry in 2025, quoted several observations made by Geological Survey of India observations, stating that the temple complex was already structurally disturbed, represented by a large number of major and minor faults along with joints crisscrossing the whole region. “Over the years, the monument showed signs of distress, including fracturing and differential settlement of large floor beams partly due to past earthquakes and natural ground-water changes,” Rao said. “The company commissioned technical studies involving IITs and other agencies, which said there would be controlled blasting during the mining and the vibrations would be well below the temple’s tolerance thresholds,” he said. It said the Kakatiyas had built the temple on a confined sand box foundation where the sand is compacted to its optimal density.
