Vijayawada: Officials told to streamline sand supply

Vijayawada: Minister for geology and mining instructed the officials here on Wednesday that the supply of sand should be streamlined under the new sand policy which was experimentally introduced by Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy.

He was reviewing the sand transportation from the stock points and at check posts with the officials of the Andhra Pradesh Mineral Development Corporation (APMDC) and mining department.

The minister watched the footage of CCTVs set up at various sand quarries, sand stock points and check posts from the command control office here.

He instructed the officials to be alert at all the check points and the sand should not be diverted to areas other than prescribed route. He suggested that every lorry should be equipped with GPS and the sand should be delivered at the doorstep.

He directed the officials to obtain necessary permissions from the Central government to establish heavy mineral beach sand project.

The minister said that the land would be acquired for Mangampet bairaties mines by paying compensation to the farmers and land owners through the district collector. The export of bairaties would increase the revenue to the government, he said.

Ramachandra Reddy said that the mining department should inform the collector not to allot mining land where there is low grade iron ore available, for the house sites. "They should look for alternative land for house sites," he suggested.

He asked the officials to call for tenders for the Chimakurti Galaxy granite in Prakasam district to start production in the mines once again. Later, the minister verified the pending applications with the APMDC for mining leases.

He instructed the officials to expedite the work on silica sand project of APMDC in Nellore district by March 31. He also reviewed the coal mines owned by APMDC in other states like Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh.