Peddapalli: Congress demands government to cancel sand tenders

Peddapalli: Former Peddapalli MLA Chintakunta Vijayaramana Rao demanded the government to cancel the tenders called for sand mining in Manair river in Peddapalli constituency.

He visited sand reaches in the river on Monday. Speaking on the occasion, he said the then District Collector set up Sand Taxi after the formation of Peddapalli district in 2015 as per rule 3 for local needs. Around 1,200 tractors registered in Sand Taxi, paid a deposit of Rs 25,000 and transported the sand for employment. Unlike any other constituency tenders for as many as 20 sand reach tenders have been called in Sultanabad, Odela and Kalvashrirampur mandals in Peddapalli constituency due to incompetence of the local MLA, he alleged.

The former MLA said that the check dams were not built properly and they got washed away in the flood waters. MLA Dasari Manohar Reddy took commissions in check dams constructions at the cost of the people's lives.

Villages in the Manair river catchment area do not have water supply for their crops through SRSP canals. Thousands of farmers were at risk of losing up to crores of rupees due to sand extraction, complained Vijayaramana Rao. He warned TRS leaders and the government that the Congress party would fight on behalf of the farmers until the sand tenders were cancelled.