Central panel to look into Rushikonda works

Nelapadu (Guntur district): Hearing the public interest petition regarding the denuding of Rushikonda in Visakhapatnam, the Division Bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court on Thursday directed the Union ministry of environment and forests to form a committee with the Central government officials for conducting a field-level inspection with regard to construction work going on at Rushikonda.

The High Court which took up a petition alleging that construction work was going on in excess of the permission given, on Thursday directed that the report should be submitted to the court by January 31.

The division bench directed the committee that the report should be submitted to the court by January 31 after a full scale examination of the earth work and structures taking place at Rushikonda. The committee should consist only of the Central government officials and the state government officials should be removed, it suggested.

Visakhapatnam East MLA Velagapudi Ramakrishna Babu and Jana Sena leader Peetala Murthy Yadav filed the petitions alleging that construction was taken up at Rushikonda in excess of the clearances granted. The petitioners also objected to the presence of three state government officials in the committee.