More than 100 protestors were baton-charged and driven away by the police when they tried to prevent a public hearing on uranium mining in Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy's home constituency Pulivendula, Kadapa, on Sunday.

The protestors, who carried a large banner and shouted slogans against the uranium mining project, turned violent and pelted stones when the police used force to stop them from gate-crashing the environmental public hearing arranged by the Uranium Corporation of India Limited.

The public hearing was held for five hours with 500-odd villagers from three villagers participating.

The mining project in Kadapa, estimated to cost Rs 1,029.57 crore, involves the extraction of uranium from underground mines in 879 hectares spread over five villages -- Mabbuchintalapalle, Thummalapalle, Rajukuntapalle, Bhoomayagaripalle and Kottala.

The UCIL expects to extract 3,000 tonnes of ore per day.

The uranium concentration is very meagre at 0.039 per cent: 1,000 kg of ore will yield 390 gram of uranium. The mines require 17.85 MW of power for extraction. The lifespan of the project is stated to be 30 years and its employment potential is just under a 1000 people.

The UCIL has submitted the environmental impact assessment and environmental management plan for Pulivendula mines to the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests and the Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board.