New sand policy set to trigger realty boom

Vijayawada: The new sand policy that has come into force from Monday in Andhra Pradesh is set to give a major boost to the construction activity in the state.

One could see vehicles lined up in front of various stock points in the state. According to the government there was 49 lakh metric tons of sand available at various stock points. The government ordered desiltation works be taken up in various reservoirs and tanks. The district-level committees will decide the places where desiltation works will be taken up. The rates vary from Rs 210 to Rs 325 per tonne as cost of operations along with statutory levies and taxes which are charged from consumers for supply of sand. These charges can be paid at the stock points through UPI. The state government, which cancelled all the policies issued during the YSRCP regime, in its latest orders issued on Monday said the sand operations will be managed by the District-Level Sand Committee (DLSC) with the Collector acting as the chairperson and nine members, including officials from various departments. The DLSC has already taken over the sand stocks available in depots mainby private agencies.

Availability of sand at stockyards would be digitised to know the availability of sand at district level. Each consumer shall be permitted to purchase a maximum of 20 metric tons of sand per day. The orders further say that heavy penalties would be levied on illegal transportation of sand, sand mining violating environmental rules and regulations.

It may be noted here that the state government will not get any revenue from this policy. But that could be compensated by an increase in the construction activity which apart from providing jobs to labour would also help in getting revenue as the consumption of cement and other construction material will go up and the government can earn revenue on the taxes on other construction materials consumed.