The fact-finding team deployed by the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) on Friday reached P. Ananthapuram village in Kondapuram mandal, the hotspot of activity in the area marked for submergence due to the expansion of Gandikota reservoir.
The visit assumed importance in the wake of the murder of a whistle-blower, Gurunatha Reddy, a former CRPF constable who had filed a complaint with the District Collector about large-scale malpractices to get ineligible persons included in the list of beneficiaries and skewing figures to increase the quantum of compensation. The attack happened last month very much in the presence of officials who had visited the village for holding a ‘Grama Sabha’.
When former Ministers Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy, N. Amarnatha Reddy, MLCs ‘B.Tech’ Ravi and K.E. Prabhakar reached the village, the residents raised a hue and cry over the attack on Gurunatha Reddy for seeking justice. They also charged that the police had named unrelated persons as accused in the case in an apparent bid to safeguard a ruling party leader. The villagers complained that ‘fake’ residents had received compensation promptly, but the genuine ones made to run from pillar to post.
Finding large-scale irregularities in the Gandikota compensation scam, Mr. Chandramohan Reddy demanded Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy to order a probe into the issue with a sitting judge. TTD former Chairman Putta Sudhakar Yadav, TDP vice-president Putha Narasimha Reddy, Kadapa parliamentary in-charge M. Linga Reddy accompanied the team.
