VIJAYAWADA: Considering the possibility of the sand mafia’s involvement in the accident that claimed fifteen lives at Yerpedu in Chittoor district, AP CM Chandrababu Naidu on Sunday suspended two of his party workers involved in illegal sand mining and ordered their arrest. He also directed a senior IAS officer to inquire into the incident and suspended the Yerpedu Tahasildar.
Speaking to mediapersons in New Delhi after participating in the NITI Aayog meeting, Naidu said that villagers were forced to go to Yerpedu to lodge complaints with the revenue and police departments when those illegally mining sand from the river in Munagala Palem continued to do so despite opposition from villagers.
“Dhanunjaya Naidu and Chiranjeevi Naidu, two TDP leaders from Govindavaram village near Munagala Palem, were involved in illegal sand mining. They have been suspended and will be arrested,” he said.
The CM suspended the MRO of Yerpedu saying had he acted on time on the complaints of the villagers, they would not have come en masse to lodge plaints again and died in the accident. He said there were complaints against the SI of Yerpedu, who too got injured in the accident. “A senior IAS officer will be inquiring into the entire incident and the reasons that lead to it. Based on the report, action will be initiated against those responsible,” he said. Naidu said the accident was very unfortunate, but the human error was clear. “The driver of the vehicle has no license and he was drunk. The lorry was driven by a cleaner. It shows that they have scant regard for rules aand human life. All the three have been arrested and we will ensure they are put behind bars for 10 to 20 years,” he said.
Expressing displeasure over the functioning of the Transport Department, he said the accident exposed serious lapses in the department. “We will see that those found guilty of drunken driving have their licences cancelled immediately,” he said. He made it clear that AP would act tough against those involved in illegal sand mining, irrespective of their political affiliation, position and stature.
“To regulate sand mining, I made it free, in spite of state suffering loss to the tune of Rs 600 to Rs 700 crore per year. But the greed to make money by doing business with sand continues. People, are taking advantage of the situation and fleecing people,” he said.