Government claims that no sand scarcity

Amaravati: Minister for Mines Peddireddi Ramachandra Reddy said that the government agreed with 82 patta landowners and permission are given for sand mining in 10 patta lands to overcome the sand crisis. He stated that there is no problem for sand in the state for the next five years, in a press conference at Secretariat on Tuesday.

It is worth to mention here that, when all the opposition parties have been preparing ground for massive protests across the state on the sand scarcity, the government has been trying to pretend that there was no problem in the future.

The Minister said that, unlike the rainy season in the past ten years, this year the state witnessed abundant rainfall. With this, Krishna and Godavari rivers are flooding form the past 70 and 40 days respectively. At this situation, the state is witnessing sand crisis, said, Minister. He said that the government is trying all the possible ways to overcome the sand crisis by supplying sand from patta lands.

Krishna and Godavari rivers are still flooding in the state, which is why the reason we could not provide sand from the major reaches. Sand from patta lands is being supplied for construction. So far, the agreement was made with 82 patta landowners and permission has given for sand mining in 10 patta lands, said, Minister.

He also mentioned that around 50,000 tonnes of sand has been also supplied to Credoi and Realty companies. Actions are being taken so that there will be no trouble for the building construction workers.

Already, we are making an agreement with landowners to pay Rs 100 per one ton. Every year the state requires about 2 crore tons of sand. It means there will be no problem with the sand in the next five years. Moreover, it looks like the floods will be decreased. And whenever the flood water level comes down at sand reaches, we will supply the required quantity of sand to the users, he said.

After the announcement of the new sand policy in the state, initially, we provided 5,000 tonnes of sand, but today it has been increased to 45,000 tonnes. Already, 5 lakh tonnes of sand have been supplied to 1295 bulk consumers.

Despite the government efforts in tackling the sand crisis, the opposition party is criticizing the government. 'National Green Tribunal has fined the TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu for Rs 100 crore on sand robbery,' Minister added.

'As an alternative to sand, the government will encourage M-sand units that can be manufactured from crusher stones. The Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy is considering the proposal to provide loans at 25 per cent interest for those who set up units in the existing metal quarries,' he added.

The Mining department Secretary Ram Gopal was also present at the meeting.