Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLAs (Left to Right) KP Vivekanand, Padi Kaushik Reddy and Dr. K. Sanjay speaking to newspersons in Hyderabad on June 11, 2024. | Photo Credit: NAGARA GOPAL
Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) has alleged that there is a major scam in the transportation of fly-ash from the NTPC-Ramagundam plant and that Minister for Transport Ponnam Prabhakar is behind it.
Addressing a press conference in Hyderabad on Tuesday, BRS MLAs Padi Kaushik Reddy, Dr. K. Sanjay and K.P. Vivekanand said that against the permission to transport 32 tonnes of fly-ash in a lorry, more than double the quantity (72 tonnes) was being transported without mentioning the actual load (weight) in the way bills being issued for the purpose.
₹50 lakh money was being made illegally every day, allege BRS leaders
They alleged that by transporting the additional fly-ash without any way bill, ₹50 lakh money was being made illegally every day and a nephew of the minister, his elder brother’s son, was collecting the money. They stated that the heavily overloaded fly-ash lorries were also leading to accidents sometimes and recently an engineering student died in one such accident.
BRS leaders threaten to stage protest at NTPC-Ramagundam
The BRS leaders sought to know why the NTPC-Ramagundam authorities were keeping quiet on the issue and why it was not revealing the lorry-wise fly-ash being transported everyday. They stated that they would raise the matter with the NTPC authorities at Delhi level and they would visit NTPC-Ramagundam and stage a protest in case the illegal transportation of fly-ash without way bills concealing the real quantity being loaded was not stopped.
Mr. Kaushik Reddy had stated he himself had caught 13 lorries taking an overload of fly-ash but the Transport Department authorities seized only two lorries and let off others with the pressure from the minister. As he obstructed the heavily overloaded fly-ash lorries plying through his constituency, the lorries were now being routed trough Husnabad constituency. The BRS activists would catch such lorries anywhere and keep complaining about it to the authorities, irrespective of any action, they said.
Revanth-Ponnam tax collected in Karimnagar, alleges Kaushik Reddy
He alleged that Mr. Prabhakar was making his followers burn his (Kaushik Reddy’s) effigies for keeping a tab on the overloading of lorries. He stated that the Congress leaders were collecting Revanth-Ponnam tax in Karimnagar.
Korutla MLA Dr. Sanjay said Congress MLA from Vemulawada Aadi Srinivas was unable to digest former minister T. Harish Rao’s criticism of the Government on various issues. He suggested Mr. Srinivas to shed the misgiving that he would become popular by speaking against a committed leader like Mr. Harish Rao.
The BRS MLAs stated that not just Mr. Harish Rao but all the BRS MLAs would quit in case the Congress Government implemented crop loan waiver up to ₹2 lakh to every farmer who has an outstanding loan and also deliver all six guarantees 100% by August 15.
