The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : TDP demands new mining policy

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Thursday, Sep 27, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

TDP demands new mining policy

Correspondent

Dadi Veerabhadra Rao says the demand of his party to hand over mining rights to APMDC was ignored

VIZIANAGARAM: TDP leader in the Legislative Council Dadi Veerabhadra Rao has demanded that Union Minister for Mines T. Subba Rami Reddy convene an all-party meeting to amend the mining policy keeping in view the “looting of natural resources by individuals.”

At a press conference here on Wednesday, Mr. Veerabhadra Rao, while referring to mining by Gali Janardhana Reddy in 100 acres at Obulapuram, said that Mr. Reddy had, according to government statistics, earned Rs. 1,200 crores during the last two-and-half years and paid royalty to the tune of Rs. 8 crores to the State Government.

Criticising Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, Chief Minister, for being partisan, he said that the demand of his party to hand over mining rights to Andhra Pradesh Mining Corporation was ignored.

With regard to housing and pensions under Indiramma programme, the MLC said that the TDP had detected severe irregularities in the identification of beneficiaries during its ‘palle palleku TDP’ programme. The Chief Minister was being fed with wrong information about the number of houses completed. In majority of villages the figures were exaggerated and got the bills settled, he said. About 10 -15 per cent of the eligible people were covered under the old age and widow pension scheme.

The YSR Government earned more criticism than appreciation in both housing and pension schemes, he said and welcomed the reported proposal of the government to convert the entire housing

loan amount into subsidy. The party Polit Bureau member P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju, district president Y. Ramana Murty and others were present.

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