YSRCongress team’s visit to illegal mining areas in Andhra Pradesh thwarted

Narasaraopet tense as police place opposition MLAs, several leaders under house arrest; Gurajala TDP MLA denies unauthorised mining of limestone.
YSRC activists who thronged the house of Gurajala constituency incharge K Mahesh Reddy in Narasaraopet on Monday | Express
YSRC activists who thronged the house of Gurajala constituency incharge K Mahesh Reddy in Narasaraopet on Monday | Express

GUNTUR: A tense atmosphere prevailed in Narasaraopet and neighbouring Assembly constituencies on Monday as the police thwarted the YSRC fact-finding committee’s visit to ‘illegal’ limestone mining areas in Gurajala. The police made preventive arrest of several YSRC leaders to obstruct them from visiting the illegal limestone mining areas.

Following a PIL filed by former MLC TGV Krishna Reddy, the High Court had taken a serious view of illegal mining of limestone. To probe the matter, YSRC chief YS Jaganmohan Reddy had constituted a fact-finding committee, which was supposed to visit the illegal mining areas on Monday. However, the police imposed prohibitory orders under Section 144 of IPC in Gurajala, Macherla and Narasaraopet to prevent the visit of the fact-finding committee.

While the YSRC chief contended that the police action itself was enough to prove that who was culpable for illegal mining of limestone, the TDP said the agitation of the Opposition party was depriving hundreds of workers of their livelihood.

Hundreds of the party activists reached Narasaraopet even as the police cordoned off the residence of YSRC Gurajala constituency incharge Kasu Mahesh Reddy. A huge police force was deployed in Narasaraopet, Gurajala, Macherla and Duggirala Assembly constituencies to thwart any untoward incident.
Apart from Mahesh Reddy, Narasaraopet MLA G Srinivasa Reddy at Narasaraopet and Macherla MLA Pinnelli Ramakrishna Reddy at Macherla and YSRC leader Janga Krishna Murthy at Piduguralla were placed under house arrest to thwart their visit to the mining areas. Guntur East MLA Md Mustafa and YSRC senior leader Botcha Satyanarayana were also taken into preventive custody at the tollgate of Kaza on NH-16 and shifted to Duggirala police station while they were on their way to Guntur.

Mahesh Reddy, speaking to reporters, said the loss to the exchequer due to illegal mining was estimated at more than `300 crore. Botcha alleged that the TDP government was not probing the allegations against Gurajala TDP  MLA Yarapathineni Srinivasa Rao despite a huge quantum of loss to the exchequer due to illegal mining. The Mines and Geology officials had filed a case against Anji Babu, a mining worker, stating that he illegally mined limestone worth `63 crore to save the ruling party MLA. But the court would not spare anybody as it had taken a serious view of illegal mining, he said.

YSRC MLC Ummareddy Venkateswarlu said the TDP government was fearing to give permission to the fact-finding committee to visit the mining areas as it would ‘expose’ the illegal activities of the ruling party leaders. “Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is trying to save his MLA Srinivasa Rao. Naidu had instructed the police to see that the Opposition leaders do not expose the illegal mining of the ruling party leaders,” the  MLC said.

Refuting the allegations, Gurajala MLA Srinivasa Rao said the YSRC leaders were trying to tarnish his image in the Assembly constituency by resorting to mudslinging on the illegal mining issue. He accused the YSRC leaders of trying to mislead the public in the name of illegal mining of limestone. But the people of Gurajala were well aware of the fact and who were the real culprits in the illegal mining issue. The mining workers are losing their livelihood due to the agitation of YSRC, the MLA said.

Related Stories

No stories found.
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com