HYDERABAD: Former MLC TGV Krishna Reddy told the Hyderabad High Court that the officials of Andhra Pradesh government had registered cases against some labourers in order to protect the real culprits in the illegal mining taking place at Kesanupally, Nadikudi, Konanki Piduguralla and other areas in Guntur district.
These labourers do not have the capacity to excavate 68 lakh metric tonnes of limestone which requires huge explosives and machinery, he said.
Stating that around `300 crore loss was incurred to the State exchequer because of the illegal mining, he urged the court to issue directions for recovery from ruling party MLA Yarapatineni Srinivasa Rao of Gurazala constituency in Guntur. Besides, he sought probe into the issue by an independent agency to punish the real culprits.
In this regard, Krishna Reddy recently filed a miscellaneous petition in the PIL filed by him earlier seeking directions to the authorities concerned to take firm action to curb illegal mining.
Recently, while dealing with the said PIL, a division bench comprising Chief Justice TBN Radhakrishnan and Justice V Ramasubramanian issued notices to MLA Srinivasa Rao to respond to the PIL. Besides, the bench 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 motu impleaded the CAG, CBI and the Ministry of Mining as respondents to the present case.
The petitioner MLC, in the miscellaneous petition, submitted that the State government had recently ordered CB-CID probe into the issue and registered cases against 17 persons based on a complaint by the assistant director of mines.
In fact, the persons against whom cases were registered belong to BPL (below poverty line) families. He urged the court to take his submissions into consideration. Pursuant to earlier direction by the court, the Guruzala MLA filed a counter affidavit with a plea to remove his name in the case stating that the PIL was filed with an intention to damage his reputation.
Disputing the allegations made by Krishna Reddy, the MLA claimed that he was in no way connected with the said illegal mining and that the present case was filed with political motives.As the State government had already ordered probe into the issue, there was no need for the court to monitor the issue. He also urged the court to dismiss the PIL. The matter is expected to come up for hearing soon.