Law to check sand mafia soon: CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy

Sand availability increased in the state, as floods receding

Amaravati: A new legislation to regulate and impose strict measures for violations in mining and transport of sand is in the offing to check sand mafia and to regulate the prices.

During the review meeting on Sand held at Tadepalli in Guntur district on Wednesday, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy informed with officials that the new legislation will be coming up that would regulate sand mining, transport, price fixation and the stringent measures for violation of law.

An Ordinance will be brought out immediately which will be converted into a law during the ensuing Assembly session, he told the officials. The Chief Minister said that the Ordinance will specify the land fixation giving the powers to district collectors and concerned officials at constituency and district levels. Meanwhile, the sand distribution should be drastically increased.

A toll-free number should be set up where any complaints on irregularities in the sale of sand should be immediately attended to. Vigilance wing should be strengthened to check smuggling and technology should be used. CC Cameras should be set up at all the reaches. The follow-up on the issue should be revealed in the next Spandana meeting, he told the officials.

Officials said that 83 of the 275 sand reaches are active. The supply was increased from 41,000 tonnes to 69,000 tonnes per day as the number of reaches was increased from 61 to 83. If the weather improves, between 15 and 30 days we can supply two to three lakh tonnes per day.

There were floods for three of the five months we came to office and the Opposition is trying to politicize even suicides, the Chief Minister said. Later, he also held a review meeting on liquor policy and said that any unauthorized sale of liquor should be firmly dealt with and a toll-free number should be set up. The modalities of a legislation on liquor will be discussed in another meeting, he said.