HYDERABAD: Taking a serious view of the Andhra Pradesh government’s inaction in preventing illegal mining taking place in the state particularly at Kesanupally, Nadikudi, Konanki Piduguralla areas in Guntur district, a division bench of the Hyderabad High Court on Wednesday directed the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Central mining department to inform about the steps to be taken on the issue.
The bench suo moto impleaded the CAG, CBI and the ministry of mining as respondents to the present case.
“What is the state government doing when large scale illegal mining and transportation of valuable minerals is taking place in the state? The inaction of the authorities for recovery of such mineral wealth shows that they have connived with those indulging in illegal mining. The mineral wealth belongs to the nation and not to those having muscle and money power.
Only cases are booked against some labour and not against the real persons who are behind such activities. There is a huge loss to the state’s exchequer due to illegal transportation of lakhs of tonnes of minerals”, bench remarked.
The bench issued notices to the respondent ruling party MLA Yarapatineni Srinivasa Rao of Gurazala constituency in Guntur to respond to the PIL filed by TGV Krishna Reddy, former MLC, seeking directions to the authorities concerned to take firm action to curb illegal mining. During the course of the hearing, the bench found fault with the investigation done by the mining officials on the issue. The bench directed the officials to place all relevant records before the court.
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