Hyderabad: The TRS on Saturday voiced opposition to the allotment of iron ore mines at Bayyaram in Khammam district to Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, a Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) enterprise.
Mineral resources of Telangana region were being unjustifiably given to the RINL enterprise in coastal Andhra region, TRS MLA T Harish Rao alleged.
Assembly Deputy Speaker M Bhatti Vikramarka and Congress legislator P Sudhakar Reddy, however, dismissed the protest.
Reddy said the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant had come forward to set up an integrated steel and benefaction plant at Bayyaram, and TRS and TDP were only politicising the issue.
Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy also rejected the allegation that mineral wealth in Telangana was being given away to non-Telangana regions.
"RINL is a national project. The steel plant belongs to the whole nation. It is a national property and does not belong to any region or any state. The Andhra Pradesh government or coastal Andhra region do not hold shares in the plant," he said in Visakhapatnam.
Earlier this month, the Andhra Pradesh government had decided to allot 5,324 hectares of iron ore mines to Visakhapatnam Steel Plant.
PTI
