VIJAYAWADA: Accusing Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and YSR Congress leaders of posing a serious threat to the environment by digging the hills and turning them into tanks, TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu said hills were slowly disappearing in the State due to the illegal mining.
Describing Rushikonda as a necklace to Visakhapatnam city, he said such a historic hill was not an exception for illegal digging by the government. Even as the National Green Tribunal (NGT) issued orders against digging Rushikonda, the audacity of the Jagan Mohan Reddy government was such that it approached the Supreme Court challenging the NGT order.
Speaking to mediapersons at the TDP central office in Mangalagiri on Wednesday, Naidu besides claiming that he had evidence with regard to the illegal mining activities in 75 locations and sought to know what the Chief Secretary as well as the mining, revenue and forest department officials were doing when such acts were going on unabated.
In the same breath, he also gave a clarion call to the people to join the fight against the government to protect nature. "If we save nature, nature will save us. The responsibility to protect forests and trees lies with everyone," the Opposition Leader asserted.
Saying that the people gave an opportunity to Jagan for 5 years to rule the State as a trustee, the TDP chief observed it was not an endorsement to loot it and play havoc with the environment.