It is the Opposition MLAs who demaned for a probe on the illegal lease of mines in Khammam district then outside the assembly at the media point it was the Congress MLA and former minister, Ramreddy Damodar Reddy, who urged the Government to order an inquiry. The Congress MLA demanded for a probe by a sitting judge of the High Court into the alleged irregularities in the awarding the lease of Bayyaram mines in Garla to a private company.
Interacting with the media at the media point on the Assembly premises here, Damodar Reddy said that some newspapers have, earlier, published stories stating that large scale irregularities had taken place in the award of lease of Bayyaram iron ore mines to a private company. The issue was raised by the Opposition in the Assembly on Monday.
As per 1/70 Act, the tribal land should not be sold, purchased, leased out and should not be used for mining.
The senior Congress leader expressed displeasure over the leasing of mines in Telangana region to non-locals by the State government. “The government should release a white paper on leasing of mines in the Telangana region”, he demanded. whoever involved in it, the government should act firmly on the alleged irregularities in Bayyram mines lease, he added.
Alleging that non-locals were looting the mineral wealth of the Telangana region, he regretted that the “cess” collected by the government from mines was not being spent for the development of the backward region
Commenting on Kadapa MP Jaganmohan Reddy’s statement that his Odarpu Yatra is apolitical, Damodar Reddy questioned `` Is he not talking politics during the tour.’’
He felt that Jagan should have kept away from the Odarpu yatra heeding to the orders of Congress High Command.