Hyderabad, August 03: Telugu Desam Party chief N Chandrababu Naidu has demanded that the state government ban export of iron ore from the state and also release a white paper on iron ore ‘illegally exported’ from here in last six years.
“Karnataka has banned export of iron ore from that state and estimated that 30 million tonnes of it was exported in the last few years. AP has more iron ore reserves than Karnataka and hence the quantity of ore exported illegally from the state could be much higher…Hence it should be banned,” Chandrababu told reporters at the TDP headquarters here today.
While the Karnataka government was fighting against the ‘mining mafia’ and illegal export of mineral wealth, the Andhra Pradesh government was rolling out a red carpet and encouraging plundering of national wealth by certain elements, the TDP chief alleged.
“We will continue our nationwide fight against the mining mafia,” Naidu said. He alleged that Rajasekhara Reddy government opened flood gates for corruption by issuing mining leases flouting all norms.
Kadapa MP YS Jagan Mohan Reddy was only continuing the same ‘corrupt culture’, Naidu alleged.
The Centre should also probe into the assets of Jagan. “What was the value of his family’s assets in 2004 and what is the value now. How did Jagan get that kind of money,” he wondered.
Naidu said that he would undertake a padayatra from Alipiri to Tirumala for protection of sanctity of Tirumala. He demanded that the present TTD Board should be scrapped and a new body should be in place for good administration.
–Agencies