State seeks lifting of stay on Kaleswaram

`100cr going waste: TS

The TS government has urged the Hyderabad High Court to vacate the interim orders granted on February 7, 2017 directing it not to dispossess farmers from the 240 acres of land in Gowliwada village of Peddapally district for the construction of the Sundilla Barrage under the Kaleswaram Lift Irrigation Scheme till completion of the land acquisition process under the Land Acquisition Act 2013.

The state government filed the affidavit on the direction of the court in response to a PIL by Pendru Praveen Reddy, a resident of Gowliwada village.

The government alleged that the petitioner moved the PIL with an intention to stall the project by creating a false and baseless tale.

It was told the court that the project was intended for the welfare of the farmers and to cater to drinking water needs of lakhs of people and also to stop migration of workers of agriculture labourers to other states in search of livelihood.

The government said that the allegations of adopting coercive methods for acquisition of lands from farmers were baseless and no farmer was evicted from the land forcibly.

It submitted that the contractor has so far invested `100 crore and due to the interim stay, machinery and manpower were going waste.

Orders reserved on Srilakshmi plea

The Hyderabad High Court on Monday reserved its orders on a petition by senior IAS officer Y. Srilakshmi, the then secretary to the industries department of undivided AP, seeking to quash proceedings against her in the Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy illegal investments case.

The CBI has charged Ms Srilakshmi with extending undue favours to Dalmia Cements in allotting mining lease in 407 hectares in Kadapa flouting norms.

Justice B. Siva Sankara Rao concluded hearing on the petition.

Y. Srinivasa Murthy, counsel appearing for Ms Srilakshmi, contended that his client has not violated any procedure in allotting the mining lease to Dalmia Cements. He said that she had forwarded the file based on the recommendations of the field-level officers and the minister empowered to take the final decision.

He submitted that the proceedings of the CBI against her were baseless and without evidence.