The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) activists staged demonstrations across Kadapa district on August 29 (Tuesday) in response to the call by the party leadership for a State-wide protest against the alleged indiscriminate sand mining at the behest of the ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP).
TDP activists led by party State vice-president Putha Narasimha Reddy laid siege to the Animela sand reach in Veerapunayunipalle mandal. Lakhs of cubic metres of sand were being illegally transported across the State and it was not accounted for, he alleged.
Hinting at the ‘direct involvement’ of the family members of Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy in the illegal sand mining, Mr. Narasimha Reddy said that the Mines Department had ‘failed to take any action’. He made this statement in a veiled reference to Kamalapuram MLA P. Ravindranath Reddy, the maternal uncle of the Chief Minister.
‘Construction sector hit’
Meanwhile, TDP activists led by Kadapa Parliamentary constituency in-charge Mallela Linga Reddy, Kadapa Assembly in-charge V.S. Ameer Babu, State organising secretaries B. Hariprasad and S. Govardhan Reddy staged a dharna and submitted a representation to the tahsildar.
Mr. Linga Reddy accused the YSRCP government of selling sand to the neighbouring States, saying that the move had hit the construction sector hard. “Sand was available free of cost during the TDP’s tenure, while the YSRCP government is selling a tractor-load for ₹5,000 and a tipper-load for ₹20,000,” Mr. Ameer Babu said.
