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AP govt dumps women’s hopes in sand reaches
Employing women from Self-Help Groups (SHG) in sand reaches across the State, which was dubbed as a brave move to empower women, was short lived. The State government has decided to drop the SHG women from the sand reaches in line with the upcoming sand policy.
- 373 sand reaches to be auctioned
- Tender notification to be issued on January 8
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Vijayawada: Employing women from Self-Help Groups (SHG) in sand reaches across the State, which was dubbed as a brave move to empower women, was short lived.
The State government has decided to drop the SHG women from the sand reaches in line with the upcoming sand policy.
The Cabinet sub-committee, which is drafting the new sand policy, held its first meeting, here on Thursday under the chairmanship of the Minister for Finance Yanamala Ramakrishnudu.
The sub-committee had decided to go for open auction of all the 373 sand reaches in the State. A tender notification would be issued on January 8, 2016 and tenders would be opened and finalised on January 25.
Speaking to media persons after the Cabinet sub-committee meeting, Ramakrishnudu said that the sand reaches, which are being operated by the SHG women, would have to be vacated by 6 pm on January 31. “Those reaches would be allocated to the bidders at midnight on January 31,” he added.
However, the government had decided to allocate 25 per cent of the sand revenue to the women groups. Interestingly, the government had also given a chance to the SHGs to participate in the open bidding, if they are interested to continue the activity.
When asked how the government would give 25 percent share when the SHGs will not have ownership of the sand reaches anymore, the minister for mining P Sujatha said that the Chief Minister had promised them to give 25 percent share as part of women empowerment. The decision to roll back the earlier decision to give sand reaches to them is from government side and hence it was decided that they should be given 25 percent share in the revenue.
Replying to another query Ramakrishnudu said that the government had fixed the base price at Rs 550 a unit, which would bring Rs 825 crore per year from all the 373 sand reaches in the State. He said that the government would pay Rs 75 crore to the local bodies concerned and another 25 per cent of the revenue would also be paid to the farmers.
“The new policy would be reviewed after six months,” the Minister said. Minister for Mines Peethala Sujatha, Minister for Water Resources Devineni Uma Maheswara Rao, mining Secretary Girija Shankar were also present.
