VIJAYAWADA: Illegal excavation of 6.15 lakh cubic metres of red gravel in an area of 20.95 acres at IS Jagannadhapuram village in Eluru district came to light in an inquiry ordered by Deputy Chief Minister (Environment and Forest) Pawan Kalyan.
The Deputy Chief Minister, who visited IS Jagannadhapuram recently for launching the Deepam 2.0 scheme, observed that a large quantity of red gravel was excavated in an area near Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple in the village. Having learnt that the mining caused a great damage to greenery and biodiversity in the area, he directed the Eluru District Collector to submit a report after conducting an inquiry into the matter.
Officials of the Revenue and Mines and Geology Departments took up the inquiry and found that Bekem Infra Projects Limited, which got permission for excavating 74,875 cubic metres of red gravel in an area of 6.18 acres in Survey No. 425 at IS Jagannadhapuram village in Dwaraka Tirumala mandal. However, it took up excavation in another 1.48 acres in the same survey number, and mined 36,107 cubic metres of red gravel. As per the report submitted to the Deputy Chief Minister’s office, the firm also resorted to illegal excavation of 6.15 lakh cubic metres of red gravel in another 20.95 acres in the same survey number.
As excavation of mineral in areas other than allotted is illegal, the firm had shown that red gravel was mined in the approved area, the report stated. The Collector informed the Deputy Chief Minister that apart from issuing notices to Bekem Infra for the illegal excavation of red gravel, show cause notice will also be served on the revenue and mines and geology officials concerned for their failure to prevent illegal mining.
