Thiruvananthapuram: Former KPCC president V. M. Sudheeran has sought a probe into the functioning of the Indian Rare Earths Limited which he alleged had nexus with the private sand mining lobby.
In a letter sent to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, he asked Mr Vijayan and the other ministers to study the situation at Alappad where the local people have been agitating against the sand mining. He demanded a probe by an official in the rank of ADGP into the bogus pass being issued by the IREL to lorries to transport the mined sand.
“The PSU officials are working as agents of private sand mining companies and a few retired IREL officials are consultants for them,” said Mr Sudheeran.
A probe was needed into the leak of the PSU’s documents to the mining lobby, he said and recalled that on January 16, the police had confiscated some lorries having passes issued by the IREL.
“The lorries were carrying more than double the quantity of the sand permitted by the authorities. The lorries are kept at Kareelakulangara police station. There was pressure on the authorities to release the lorries after fining them just for overload,” he added.
