The AP government is preparing to cancel two limestone leases granted to Bharti Cements before the 2024 elections. The coalition government has taken up the matter after the Union Mines Department raised objections that these leases were granted in violation of the Central Government’s mining rules.
According to the Advocate General (AG) report, these leases were found to have been granted illegally. The lease cancellation orders are likely to be issued as soon as the State Mines Department submits its final report. According to the rules amended by the Union Mines Department in 2015, leases for major minerals such as limestone must be awarded only through auction.
Moreover, there is a clear provision that even if a Letter of Intent (LOI) is issued before January 12, 2015, if all the permissions are not obtained by January 11, 2017, the LOI will automatically be cancelled. However, a few days before the 2024 elections, Bharathi Cements, of which Bharathi, the wife of then Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy, was the director, ignored these rules and granted two leases.
These leases were given on 509.18 acres and 235.56 acres of land in Kamalapuram and Erraguntla mandals of Kadapa district. These lands belonged to Raghuram Cements, which Bharathi Cements had purchased in 2009. It had applied for a limestone lease at that time and obtained an LOI, but could not obtain the permissions on time.
In 2016, the government issued a notice canceling the LOI after Raghuram Cements did not inform the government about the change in name to Bharathi Cements. Bharathi Cements approached the High Court on this issue, and the court granted status quo. Later, the High Court ordered the state government to hear the arguments of the company in 2023 and take a decision.
Accordingly, on February 2, 2024, the Jagan government issued orders granting two leases a month before the election notification. Similarly, it came to light that Associate Cement Company (ACC) and Ramco Cements were also granted leases. While an LOI was issued to ACC in 2010 for a limestone lease of 2,463 acres in Mylavaram mandal of Kadapa district, it was not able to get the lease even after the 2015 regulations.
In 2022, ACC was purchased by Adani Cements. Orders were given on November 15, 2023, granting the lease to that company. Later, leases were also granted to Bharati Cements. Similarly, Ramco Cements also obtained a lease of 267.30 acres at Jayanthipuram in Jaggayyapet mandal of NTR district on March 15, 2024.