A roundtable organised by the TDP to discuss the State government’s sand policy alleged a conspiracy behind the sand crisis prevailing in the State.
Speakers at the meeting alleged that Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy imposed curbs on sand mining in order to derive personal gain out of the artificial scarcity. They also accused ruling party MLAs of extorting money at sand reaches and transporting the mineral to neighbouring States under police protection.
“If the government remains indifferent to the loss of livelihood of lakhs of construction workers, the ongoing agitation would be intensified,” the participants said.
Snipe at Jagan
Addressing the gathering, Rajya Sabha member Kanakamedala Ravindra Kumar took a snipe at the CM over the sand crisis.
“Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy described the sand scarcity as a temporary phenomenon. However, a solution to the crisis is still not in sight as he lacks the will to take concrete action that will restore normalcy,” Mr. Ravindra Kumar alleged.
“The CM should have continued with the old policy until a new one was introduced. But he brought the sand mining to a grinding halt overnight on the pretext that it was mired in corruption during the TDP rule,” Mr. Ravindra Kumar said.
“The government has the power to take policy decisions. However, such decisions are supposed to be rational and should not be driven by ego, which seems to be the case with Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy as he clearly appears to be bent on undoing all the good work done by his predecessor N. Chandrababu Naidu,” Mr. Ravindra Kumar said.
Explanation sought
Jana Sena Party (JSP) leader P. Mahesh and CPI assistant State secretary J.V.V. Satyanarayana Murthy levelled serious accusations on the Chief Minister, insisting that he owed an explanation over the spate of suicides by construction workers.
MLCs Batchula Arjunudu and P. Ashok Babu, former Ministers Devineni Umamaheswara Rao and Alapati Rajendra Prasad, former MLAs Bode Prasad, Tangirala Sowmya and Bonda Umamaheswara Rao, CPI leader Donepudi Sankar, Aam Aadmi Party leader P. Ramu and APSRTC former chairman Varla Ramaiah were among those present.
