India, March 31 -- Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking cancellation of tenders allowing offshore mining along the coast of Kerala, Gujarat, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

In a letter to PM Modi, the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha urged the government to cancel the tenders and called for rigorous scientific studies to assess the environmental and socio-economic impact of offshore mining.

"Our coastal communities have been protesting against the manner in which tenders for offshore mining have been floated without evaluating their environmental impact. Millions of fisherfolk have expressed grave concerns about its impact on their livelihoods and way of life," Gandhi sa...