Terming the Kurnool quarry blast, which claimed the lives of 10 migrant workers and injured five others, as an administrative failure of the State government, Jana Sena Party (JSP) president Pawan Kalyan demanded stringent measures to check instances of illegal mining across the State and emphasised the need for formulating a ‘responsible mining policy’.
Taking a break from his ongoing Porata Yatra, Mr. Kalyan visited the blast site near Hathi Belgal village in Alur mandal of the district on Monday and enquired about the incident.
“Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu vouches for the concept of ‘real-time government’ and claims that he can monitor every situation across the State, from his desk. Despite such power, we are surprised how Mr. Naidu failed to keep an eye on the illegal mining activities. We have found out that among the 1,600 quarries across the State, nearly 600 are illegal and have been operating without any licence and resorting to indiscriminate blasting with zero adherence to rules and regulations,” he remarked.
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Meanwhile, the officials have identified the deceased in the quarry blast and have made arrangements to transport the bodies to their native places.
Among the 10 dead, six hailed from Odisha and the remaining four from Jharkhand.
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