Andhra Pradesh   

TDP demands judicial probe into illegal mining

Special Correspondent

Alleges hand of influential persons of the Congress behind blasting of temple

HYDERABAD: Telugu Desam Party has sought a judicial inquiry by a sitting High Court judge into alleged blasting of a 200-year-old temple for illegal mining of iron ore in Obulapuram in Anantapur district recently. Addressing a press conference, TDP leaders -- E. Dayakar Rao and K. Balaramakrishnamurthy -- accused some of the influential persons within the ruling party with being behind the move. After "usurping" large chunks of Government land around the city and the endowment lands, these sections were now eyeing the mineral wealth unmindful of .the religious sentiments of people.They said tribals of Obulapuram and surrounding villages had lot of faith in Sunkalamma temple. The annual "jatra" attracted thousands of devotees.

Local resistance

With the locals resisting the move for locating the mining project, promoters had been resorting to all sorts of tactics for the last two years to make them fall in line, culminating in the blasting of the temple on Sunday, they alleged.

At another press conference, P. N. V. Prasad, former Chairman of the Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh (SAAP) and M. Mahender Reddy, president of the Ranga Reddy district unit of the party, demanded the resignation of the SAAP Chairman, charging him with getting allotment of 10-acre land forming part of the AP Sports School campus near Shamirpet, for himself.

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