Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is preparing to present a white paper on the exploitation of resources by the previous YS Jaganmohan Reddy’s regime on Monday. Already he has exposed the plot to grab lands in a massive scale through the Land Titling Act, which was abolished soon after he took charge.
The proposed white paper will explain to the public the circumstances under which land worth Rs. 300 crore has been allotted to YCP offices. In the last five years, there are large-scale allegations that YSRCP leaders have exploited sand and other mineral resources at will, grabbed lands and looted rare resources like red sandalwood.
In terms of land, sand, mineral and natural resources, to what extent the destruction has been done, how the interests of the state have been damaged, and the extent of the damage to the people will be disclosed in the white paper.
In the matter of assigned lands, 39,000 acres have been sold across the state by the YSRCP government. It has also been decided to bring to light the issue of assigning lands of over 13,000 acres to the ineligible in Kadapa, Kurnool, Nandyala, Anantapur, Annamayya and Sathya Sai districts.
The white paper also will expose how lakhs of acres were removed from the list of 22(A) Prohibited list. The sand policy implemented between 2019-24 and its consequences will be revealed through this white paper. The YSRCP government entrusted the sand mining to JP Ventures, Pratima and JC KC, but the exploitation is going on at will and it is burdening the people.
It is estimated that the burden of Rs 5000 crore has been imposed on the people due to arbitrary increase in sand prices. Moreover, lakhs of people lost their jobs due to cancellation of free sand policy as the construction sector has been completely damaged.
Issues like smuggling of red sandalwood, illegal mining in forest areas and distribution of house tracks in highly sensitive forest lands will also be mentioned in the white paper. Between 2019-24, the government was able to officially auction only 836 metric tonnes. At that time, the government estimates that the smugglers will have moved red sandalwood worth thousands of crores of rupees.