Oppn demands JPC probe, all-party meet into illegal mining
New Delhi: Alleging that illegal mining
by Reddy brothers in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh could be the
biggest scam, Opposition parties, including the TDP, Left and
RLD, on Saturday demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into
it and urged the Prime Minister to convene an all-party meet
to debate the mining policy.
After holding parleys for three days in Delhi on illegal
mining, TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu, CPI general secretary A
B Bardhan, CPM politburo member Brinda Karat and RLD chief
Ajit Singh told reporters here that their parties would gather
support from other Opposition parties too on the issue to
demand suspension of all mining activities in the country and
a ban on export of mineral ores.
They also wanted the government to immediately recover the
market cost on "all illegal mining done by companies owned by
the Reddy brothers led by Janardhana Reddy and Karunakara
Reddy, who are ministers in the Karnataka government, while
being partners with former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S
Rajasekhara Reddy's son Y Jaganmohan Reddy in a mining
company."
Referring to the report of the Supreme Court appointed
Central Empowered Committee on Obulapuram Mining Company owned
by the Reddy brothers, the leaders said the scam, which took
place under political patronage, could run into several
thousands of crores, as illegal mining went on in about "900
acres of land".
These parties had yesterday demanded a CBI probe into the
illegal mining activities.
PTI