*VPR–Dow syndicate looting Nellore mining: Anil Kumar Yadav*

Nellore, Aug 30:  Former Minister and YSRCP PAC member P. Anil Kumar Yadav said Andhra Pradesh’s mining system is being controlled by a Chinese national named Dow with the backing of Nellore MP Vemireddy Prabhakar Reddy, and challenged the government to order a CBI inquiry if his charges were false.
Addressing the media at the YSRCP district office in Nellore, Anil Kumar Yadav said Dow, associated with Multi Element Company, is running a quartz mining syndicate and pressuring legal mine owners to supply material only to their group, threatening to get their mines blocked through officials if they refuse. He demanded that MP Vemireddy explain his relationship with Dow and how a foreign national was able to exercise such influence over the State’s mining system.
He said quartz revenue to the government had fallen from ₹55 crore during the YS Jagan government to ₹11.99 crore under the coalition government. Citing RTI information, he said the syndicate was collecting ₹8,000 to ₹15,000 per tonne from legal mine owners and had extracted more than ₹200 crore over two years. Of 147 quartz leases, only 98 were operating, while 49 mines had been deliberately shut for refusing to pay the syndicate, leaving thousands of workers without employment.
Anil Kumar Yadav further said illegal feldspar mining was continuing on ancient Siddhula Kona endowment lands and that feldspar production had fallen from nearly four lakh tonnes during the previous government to 1.48 lakh tonnes. He questioned why 352 small MDLs had been blocked, pushing small operators into financial distress.
He said he possessed WhatsApp chats, China-trip photographs and voice recordings relating to the syndicate and would release them if the exploitation continued. He also announced that he would lodge a complaint with the Ministry of External Affairs and again challenged the government to order a CBI probe.