CPM seeks all-party meet on OMC bungling

Khammam, Nov 12: Communist Party Of India (Marx) state secretary B V Raghavulu on Thursday demanded that the State Government convene an all-party meeting on the alleged irregularities by the Obulapuram Mining Corporation owned by Karnataka Tourism Minister G Janardhana Reddy in Anantapur district bordering Karnataka.
Talking to media persons, the CPM leader said the illegal mining has cost the state exchequer thousands of crores of rupees in terms of mineral wealth, cess and sales tax. The company should be asked to pay a penalty ten times for having illegally extracted iron ore for the last four years, face penal action for damaging a temple, for fixing official survey posts to mark boundaries, for damaging roads and for furnishing wrong figures on the quantity of ore extracted to evade tax, he suggested.

The three-member committee appointed by the government to probe the whole episode would not serve any purpose, he said. The government should appoint an experts panel to oversee the issue including the mining leases and allegations, he demanded.He criticized the government for creating a mess in Jalayagnam works, the flagship programme of YSR launched at an estimated cost of Rs 1,50,000 crore. The irrigation project works would be affected as the government failed to clear the contractors' pending bills worth Rs 4,600 crore due to lack of proper planning, he flayed.The Chief Minister should direct irrigation officials to concentrate on projects which were at an advanced stage of construction and accord priority to complete them in a time-bound manner, he said and suggested that then only the state government will be able to retain money for Jalayagnam works.