Ahead of their visit to Kondapalli forest reserve area, fact-finding committee members of the Telugu Desam Party who were to ascertain the allegations of illegal gravel mining by YSRCP members were preemptively put under house arrest by the police on Friday, July 30.
The fact-finding committee comprising Varla Ramaiah, V Anita, K Ravindra, B Umamaheswara Rao, K Narayana, N Raghuram, N Ramakrishna Reddy, T Sowmya, and N Meera were detained by the police. The team was to visit Kondapalli on Saturday, and verify the allegations made by their colleague Devineni Umamaheswara Rao. Rao, who created tension in the area with his allegations, is presently under judicial custody on charges of rioting and criminal conspiracy.
The TDP alleged that the ruling party had inadvertently admitted illegal mining by detaining them and preventing them from visiting the site for inspection.
Addressing the media, N Ramakrishna Reddy said, “We have evidence that the mining taking place in Kondapalli is illegal. The reports by the Sub-Collector, Assistant Director of Mines Vijayawada and District Forest Officer Vijayawada have ordered to immediately stop the mining. Apart from that, to evaluate the extent of deforestation, a committee was supposed to be constituted. But none of this happened. With these two pieces of evidence we will approach the court of law. We will not be deterred by the ruling party’s actions.”
Ramakrishna further pointing out that the YSRCP party members were indeed engaged in illegal mining asked why they were obstructing the visit of TDP fact-finding team.
The allegations of illegal mining were first raked up by former minister Uma Maheswara Rao on Tuesday. Rao and his followers visited Kondapalli forest area and alleged that the ruling party members backed by Mylavaram MLA Vasantha Krishna Prasad were involved in illegal mining. This led to a confrontation between both the party members and at least 1,000 people gathered and attacked each other. In the violence, the vehicle of Uma Maheswara Rao was damaged. Demanding police action against the accused, Rao protested at G Kondur police station. However, police arrested him along with 17 others on charges of rioting and criminal conspiracy on Wednesday.
కొండపల్లి మైనింగ్ నిజ నిర్ధారణ కమిటీ సభ్యుడు, టీడీపీ నేత నక్కా ఆనంద బాబును హౌస్ అరెస్ట్ చేయడాన్ని తెలుగుదేశం పార్టీ తీవ్రంగా ఖండిస్తోంది. (1/2)#FascistJaganFilesReverseCases pic.twitter.com/K9AyqsbtNU
— Telugu Desam Party (TDP Official) (@JaiTDP) July 30, 2021