VIJAYAWADA: Vigilance and Enforcement (V&E) officials conducted surprise raids at Raghavapuram in Nandigama mandal on Monday and found a contractor quarrying gravel illegally from the land allotted for the construction of G+3 houses (for poor) despite his contract expired.
Officials seized a proclainer from the spot and sent it to the local police station.
The accused was identified as Ch Venkata Ramana and is suspected to be a binami of ruling Telugu Desam Party leader and Nandigama Market Yard Committee chairman S Srinivasa Rao.
According to V&E officials, they received a tip-off from villagers that the contractor took temporary permit for quarrying gravel in the land where the housing project for poor was planned and did not stop his operations even after the contract ended. The officials further said the contractor quarried the gravel beyond the limit set by revenue officials and tried to attack them when they asked him to stop the activities in the site. "Revenue officials gave permission to the contractor to quarry gravel so that the hilly area was levelled out. Taking that as an advantage, the contractor went beyond the limits to quarry gravel. He also tried to attack us when we raided the place," said Balaji Naik, a vigilance official.
With the help of local police, V&E officials compounded one Ppoclainer and tractor from the spot and a case was registered against the contractor under relevant sections for illegal quarrying.
Meanwhile, V&E sleuths called revenue officials concerned to estimate the loss incurred by the government.