Sand mafia goes high-tech in Gadwal, prices skyrocket

Gadwal: With the construction activity going on at an exponential pace, the demand for sand has increased many folds during the past five years in Gadwal.

Be it Irrigation projects, Mission Bhageeratha, Mission Kakatiya, CC road laying, general residential housing construction works or double bedroom houses works, the demand for sand for all has increased many folds.

Unlike earlier, where the sand could be get by just paying a nominal fee to the Tahsildar of Gram panchayat, now with the State government has adopted an integrated sand procurement online system, procuring sand instantly has become a big task for the general public as well as the contractors.

Taking this as an advantage, a few sand mafia groups are buying the sand beforehand and stocking it as dumps in secluded places and later selling it to the people who are in dire need of it and making quick bucks by earning huge profits.

Here is a case in Gadwal district, where in a few contractors on the pretext of construction of government projects like Mission Bhageeratha and other major irrigation projects, have procured sand online and stocked huge dumps in Tumilla village and selling it to those who need immediately.

"Though the government had set up an integrated sand procurement system online with an intent to ensure each and every individual gets sand at affordable rates, a few sand mafia groups are stocking huge dumps and later selling the same to the needy," said Kishare a resident of Gadwal.

Usually it takes about a week to 15 days for the local sand quarry people to supply sand to the customers who have booked sand online. However, if in case anyone who is residing far away on the outskirts then for such customers, the sand supplying authorities will further delay it to even more than a month and they further ask for extra charges to supply the sand in addition to what they had paid online.

With all these problems, many customers who are in urgent need approach the black marketers and pay them high price for getting sand immediately. "I had booked sand more than a month ago, after one month the supplying agency called me and said that the address provided is not under their jurisdiction and they will charge Rs 1,000 extra per each tractor. I had to pay Rs 7,000 extra to get 7 tractors of sand," said Ramchander, a customer.

In view of these issues and problems with online booking, the customers are approaching the black marketers, who are taking advantage and charging exorbitantly high rates and supplying the same immediately.

Last week, the Gadwal police after receiving a tip-off about illegal sand dumps in Tummilla village of Rajouli mandal in Gadwal district, during their enquiry they identified 3 such large dumps which is more than 100 loads of tractors of sand costing more than Rs 6 lakhs to the government exchequer.

In another incident, the task force police of Gadwal, during their raids identified another huge dump of more than 2,000 tractor load of sand in Tummilla village on Saturday, where in the sand mafia have illegally mined sand from Tungabhadra River and stocked in the village at a secluded place.

The Gadwal incharge Superintendent of Police Apoorva Rao, directed the police to conduct raids and seize the huge stocks of illegal sand dumps. "We have identified huge stocks of sand dumps in Tummilla and seized it, a case has been registered against the culprits and investigation is going on," said Apoorva Rao.