All-party team wants halt to mining work

Hyderabad, Nov 20: Demanding the scrapping of the lease given to Obulapuram Mining Company (Omc) and instituting an inquiry into the alleged irregularities, an all-party team led by Telugu Desam supremo N Chandrababu Naidu on Friday staged a dharna in front of the Ambedkar statue on Tankbund Road here.Talking to media persons,Naidu demanded a multi-disciplinary probe into the irregularities by the Obulapuram Mining Corporation owned by Karnataka Tourism Minister G Janardhana Reddy.A comprehensive probe could 'expose the mafia nexus with political, economic and muscle power' and its connection with the family of former chief minister late YSRajasekhar Reddy.He appealed to the government to seize the properties of G Janardhan Reddy that was accumulated illegally.

Dissatisfied with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry ordered by Chief Minister K Rosaiah two days ago, Naidu said the government should stop mining activities in Anantapur district and suspend all mining leases immediately.In the name of mining,thousands of crores of rupees worth of mineral wealth was being syphoned off by the Omc and evading tax to the state, he pointed out. He said the all-party force would launch ‘Chalo Omc’ soon to mount pressure on the state government to press their demands.CPI state secretary K Narayana urged the government to set up a bench headed by a Supreme Court judge to probe the entire issue.Though Lok Satta chief Jai Prakash Narayan, Communist Party (Marxist) state secretary B V Raghavulu extended their support to the issue, they did not turn up for the dharna.