Smuggling, illegal mining of sand go unabated

​Kadapa: Contrary to the intention of the State government to supply sand free of cost to the poor for construction of Indiramma houses, sand is being diverted to other States with politicians playing a key role in the activity and officials looking the other way.

A case in point is Audi Nimmayapalle sand reach, where the government allocated two sand reaches, one meant for supplying sand for the construction of Galeru-Nagari Sujala Sravanti (GNSS) the other for supply of sand for the poor free of cost.

However, sources said there has been neither adequate supply to GNSS nor poor beneficiaries were receiving sand free of cost. It is alleged that sand in huge quantities is being illegally transported to neighbouring States of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu with the connivance of politicians and officials.

Similarly, illegal mining of sand is rampant in villages where sand reaches were situated like Mandaram, Balarajupalle, Seshamambapuram in Rajampet mandal, Shanupu Gutti, Potladurthy of Yerraguntla mandal, Cheruvukindapalle of Valluru mandal, Komarolu of Khajipet mandal, Gangavaram , Nedarapeta, Sungumanchipalle, Buggapatnam ,

T Sundupalle, Hasanapuram Sivalayam and Stanivagu, of Kondapuram mandal, Yerramekampalle , Abbavaram of Kamalapuram mandal, Vulavalapalle , Animela of Veeranayunipalle mandal, Komarampalle of Vempalle mandal, Sankarapuram of Prodduturu mandal, Tanguturu of Nandaluru mandal, Abbavaram of Jammalamadugu mandal as the leaders who are allegedly running parallel administration minting money by supplying sand to the areas like Bengaluru, Chennai and Chittoor for building construction and other purposes.

“Nothing will happen even if we bring the issue of illegal mining and sand smuggling to the notice of officials as big political leaders are behind the racket. In case anyone dare to press ahead with the issue, he will face the wrath of the perpetrators,” said a villager of Abbavaram in Jammalamadugu mandal on the condition of anonymity.

“We are not against the government’s policy of supplying sand free of cost to the poor. But lack of control over illegal mining is causing drastic fall in groundwater levels in the dry district like Kadapa . If the situation continues for some more time, it will be hard to find a single drop of groundwater.

I appeal to the district administration as well as Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu to look into the issue and take remedial steps to protect the groundwater levels,” CPM district secretary Anjaneyulu told to The Hans India.

The TDP government after coming to power handed over sand reaches to self-help group (SHG) women in order to raise their living standards. But due to various reasons, including criticism over interference of political leaders in running the sand reaches, it withdrew the decision and introduced free sand policy.