The issue of alleged irregularities in the mining department “benefiting the ruling party leaders’ families and causing a huge loss to the department revenue and State exchequer” raised by Deputy Floor Leader of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) in the Assembly T. Harish Rao led to heated exchanges between him and the treasury benches.
The matter was raised by Mr. Harish Rao while speaking on the Industries Department under which the Mines subject falls. He alleged that large-scale corruption in the mining department was denting the government coffers. He stated that one Reghava Construction was running stone crushers in Gandipet and Shamshabad mandals lying within the GO 111 limits causing air, water and noise pollution.
The units had no clearances from the registration, pollution and mines departments and were being run using diesel generators as the seigniorage is collected based on the energy consumed. There was no action against the company despite two show cause notices served by the mines department authorities, he said and demanded appointing a house committee to probe the irregularities or an inquiry by a sitting judge.
The Ministers, including D. Sridhar Babu, G. Vivek, Adluri Laxman, D. Seethakka, Ponnam Prabhakar and Deputy Chief Minister M. Bhatti Vikramarka, rose on their toes to defend Minister for Revenue Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy against whom Mr. Harish Rao made the allegations stating that the company belongs to his family members.
