Launching a 2-pronged attack on the state government over the awarding of to the mining lease to Rakshana Steels, former Congress minister and MLA R Damodar Reddy on Monday demanded that a judicial probe be ordered into the issue. He also said that the state government had erred in awarding the rights to extract ore from the mines located in Telangana region to a non-Telanganite.
Earlier in the day, the main opposition party in the state, the Telugu Desam Party, along with the Communist Party of India, had attacked the government on the Bayyaram mines issue, and alleged irregularities in awarding the lease rights to a company owned by a member of the family of former CM Y S Rajasekhara Reddy.
Talking to media persons, Damodar Reddy reminded that news reports citing large-scale irregularities over the mining lease rights had surfaced, and said that this necessitated a probe into the issue by a sitting hudge of the state High Court.
The former minister hinted that the lease was illegal, by mentioning the 1/70 Act which states that tribal lands should not be sold, purchased, leased or used for mining.
Demanding a white paper on the leasing of mines in Telangana region, the MLA said that the mines in the region were being leased to people from the other regions of the state. He added that the money collected from the mining in the region was not spent on developing the region.