GUNTUR: After the High Court took a serious view of illegal mining in Palnadu region on Wednesday by asking the government to take measures for the protection of natural resources, quarrying activity came to a standstill on Thursday. TDP’s Gurajala MLA Yarapatineni Srinivasa Rao, is said to be behind the illegal mining as alleged by former MLC TVG Krishna Reddy who said the government was incurring a loss of `4,000 crore due to conduct of illegal mining by Yarapatineni.
Krishna Reddy alleged that he had taken the issue to the notice of officials and the police several times but no action was taken. Hence, he said, he had knocked the doors of Lokayukta, High Court of Judicature of Hyderabad and National Green Tribunal (NGT) seeking justice by stopping illegal mining in the villages of Konanki in Piduguralla mandal as well as Kesanupalli and Nadikudi of Dachepalli in Guntur district.
He filed a complaint (No. 4101/2016 before Lokayukta) and submitted an application (No. 228/2016 before National Green Tribunal (NGT) in Chennai. Lokayukta In-charge Director of Investigation, K Narasimha Reddy, submitted a report stating that everybody knows that Gurajala MLA Yerapatineni Srinivasa Rao was behind the illegal mining of limestone in and around Dachepalli and Piduguralla areas.
He further said that till June, 2014, the illegal mining activity was going on in a subdued manner but once the TDP came to power in June 2014 in AP, Yarapatineni started organising illegal mining on a large-scale with the support of the ruling TDP. He further stated that the Collector, SP and Deputy Director of Mines and Geology had turned a blind eye to illegal mining operations being carried out in Dachepalli and Piduguralla.
Narasimha Reddy further mentioned in the report that no action was taken though the local Assistant Director of Mines had taken to the notice of the Deputy Director (Mining) and the State Director of Mining that a large-scale illegal mining was going on. A proposal was mooted by the Mines department for mining of limestone and invited tenders for excavation works.
The Tribunal, having found force in the material placed before it, stayed the action of the Mining department and hence the tender process was called off. But, there was no action from the officials.
Hence, the petitioner TVG Krishna Reddy filed a PIL (No. 170 in 2016) in the High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad. He submitted satellite imagery copies obtained from the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), Hyderabad, to the court.
The evidence clearly indicated illegal mining of 23 lakh metric tons of white limestone at Konanki of Piduguralla mandal in an extent of 64 acres, private land of 24 acres at Kesanupalli and 640 acres of land in Nadikudi of Dachepalli mandal. He mentioned that the consequential loss caused to public exchequer amounted to `298 crore including royalty, other taxes, penalty and interest in the last three years.
The residents of Piduguralla and Dachepalli said that illegal mining was continuing for the past few years but it was stopped on Thursday.
Gurajala Assembly constituency YSRC in-charge Kasu Mahesh Reddy alleged that 42 lakh metric tonne of lime stone was mined illegally from the mines in and around Gurajala Assembly constituency.
He said that the YSRC organised agitations against illegal mining and submitted a representation demanding action against MLA Yerapataneni Srinivasa Rao but no steps were taken to curb the illegal activity.