AP High Court calls for Central panel to look into Rushikonda work

The High Court which took up a petition alleging that construction work was going on in excess of the permission given, on Thursday directed that the report should be submitted to the court by January 31.

Amaravati: The Andhra Pradesh High Court has directed the union Ministry of Environment and Forests to set up a committee with Central government officials for conducting a field-level inspection with regard to construction work going on at Rushikonda in Visakhapatnam.

The High Court which took up a petition alleging that construction work was going on in excess of the permission given, on Thursday directed that the report should be submitted to the court by January 31 after a full scale examination of the earth work and structures taking place at Rushikonda. The committee should consist only of Central government officials and the state government officials should be removed, it suggested.

Visakhapatnam East MLA Velagapudi Ramakrishna Babu and Jana Sena leader Peetala Murthy Yadav filed the petitions alleging that construction was taken up at Rushikonda in excess of the clearances granted. The petitioners also objected to the presence of three state government officials in the committee.